In the transition from 2e to 3e many things were changed--IMO--just to make it look cosmetically different so they could get the DC license. The reason why I think this is that the changes that were made don't make any sense.
Abilities
In 2e, since there are Recovery checks, CON is a good deal (and really beyond the Init bonus from DEX) is the only necessary Ability. When 2e moved away from 1e, all prerequisites were done away with. This means you are not obligated to buy any of the Abilities.
But in 3e, there are no Recovery checks. Since you can buy your way around the Abilities (from 2e on), now you really don't need even one of them--but there are more of them! So this only serves to complicate things (the Close Attack/FGT/Parry intersection has thrown a lot of people). The AGL/DEX split--which no one asked for--only continues the system's bias against street level characters, e.g. martial artists/weapon masters (typically Attack- and Defense-shifted characters).
The Abilities are not operationalized regarding Difficulties, with no clear situational examples for GMs to make use of Ability checks. Example: the one listed DC for DEX (to catch something thrown at you--which appears in the Superboy example fight--is a DC 5 check. Hardly very granular, and frankly, with the linear d20 mechanic statistically irrelevant.
The typical push back against doing away with all the Abilities would be as a defense against Ability Drain/Weaken. The only problem with that is A) it's pretty rare, and B) isn't balanced even from the get-go across archetypes. So you have someone with CON 34 (giving them Toughness 12) and someone with CON 14 and Force Field 10. One character has far more protection against a Drain attack than the other. So if Drains are a thing, let's all do away with buying Protection and just spam our CON Ability. Built in min-maxing. Characters should not be penalized for their concept, or have to pay a concept tax (one player having to pay more than another because the mechanics are stilted).
Powers
Affliction in 3e has a strange appeal as this mix-and-match modular thing, but it's wholly broken and I don't get why people don't see it.
First, it's trying to cram 10 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound bag. It doesn't work. The individual powers in 2e were nicely written up with clear game mechanics. But in 3e, they took a Search and Replace mentality to the 2e text and did things like doing away with the distinction between Saves and Checks. Have a look at the 3e definition of Impaired or Disabled. You'll see a clear implication that it applies to all checks because they don't actually say which ones might be excluded. Many GMs have made Impaired and Disabled apply to Resistance checks, which is astronomically out of proportion with any other game effect. If you're Disabled (and it literally applies to ALL checks), then you'd be at -5 to Ability checks, Skill checks, Toughness/Fortitude/Will checks, which of course means a reflexive penalty to even breaking out of the Affliction on your subsequent turn. Only Drain/Weaken might lower all of those traits simultaneously, but you'd have to pay several Extras to do that, but what we're talking about is single rank Affliction. Bro-ken.
Secondly re: Affliction it doesn't work when you examine Dazzle. It's built as an Affliction with the Flaw: Limited to One Sense. A Flaw should reduce effectiveness roughly by half, so follow the logic with regards to Move Object:
If I buy MO with the Flaw: Limited Material: Metal, that implies that without the Flaw, it's not limited to one material--it affects all materials. But that doesn't seem to be the way Affliction is constructed re: Dazzle.
Remove the Limited to One Sense from Dazzle and that should mean it affects all senses, but there's no top domain for Affliction--IOW, it affects the whole character without regard to domain. By Domain, I mean a narrow scope of traits like "senses."
Dazzle should be built like this: Affliction; Flaw: Limited to Senses; Limited to One Sense.
Snare is equally poorly built as an Affliction, overly expensive, and without any of the Extras from 2e, let alone one of the most important Feats: Tether. In 3e, you have to build it as an Alternate Move Object, which is beyond ignorant in design.
3e breaks more things than it fixes, even if you like the streamlined STR/Mass/Distance chart, the standardized +2/+5 sequence, etc.
Make some house rule changes to 2e and dump 3e in the bin where it belongs.
If you want to see the changes I've made to 2e, go here:
http://www.echoesofthemultiver...c.php?f=16&t=184