The best overall? Or just comparing Ice and Water? Your thread title contradicts with what you wrote As for tanking - Water is absolutely the worst really, while Ice is one of the ten worst healer powers. DPS wise you can out dps many players with both Powers if you are committed to play the dps role and not just want to use the best and easiest power out there. Make alts and test the powers or go to the test server. Both classes play differently in many many aspects. Just comparing numbers might be dangerous for your enjoyment of the game
N Neither is OP as far as I can tell. Water has combos-- abiliy,mouse-click,mouse-clip -- similar to range of atomic. It also has some gimmicks -- an ability that increases/enhanced the next ability you use and another that removes the cool down of the last ability you used. These make it play different from other power sets. There's a semi active thread in the Oracle's guide section, with some decent full range load outs. Nobody seems to have found a good melee rotation yet. Ice has channeled abilities -- where you're shooting jets of cold that you keep focused on your enemies. It also has a few damage over time abilities, and a better mix of long and short range abilities. I think both can do decent damage. Neither has a single load out that everyone is using.
People sometimes shy away from declaring if one power is definitely better and may be offend a group of users. i play both these powers regularly. Dmg potential wise both are middle of the pack: i'd say currently end game: ice>water. Doesn't make water any less fun to play.
Ice FTW hands down every time for everything except healing. Water FTW for healing. But just healing.
