First of all, feats are a great workaround for people who have limited their campaign to "one power per character" or something. For the record, I'm talking about regular feats only- not power feats.
COMBAT FEATS
Attack Focus/Attack Specialization: There is also a power feat called power specialization, and therein lies the conundrum. You can spend 2 points for 1 attack, 1 point for 1 if it's just melee or just ranged, 1 for 2 for 1 weapon, or you can specalize in a power for 2:1, but it's a power feat. The difference here is that a power feat can be utilized as an alternate power. So you can take a 20 point power, and 1 point of alternate power gets you a 15 point power +5 power specialization feats if you need them. This is only really good if you focus on melee weapons as a means to bypass power level limits, and then it's much cheaper than buying attack.
Blind-Fight: This could be good I guess, great in games like D&D, but i never really see it come up in M&M. Partially because all the visual powers that pierce concealment, and all the perception powers. It is okay in some edge cases, but I don't really see it.
Chokehold/ Grappling Finesse/Imp Grapple/Improved Grab/Improved Pin/Ranged Pin- Look, grappling is easy to break in M&M, additional limbs, and enhanced strength can give you a nigh unbeatable grapple check. But then, with so many ways to break grapple: teleport, insubstantial, and just immunity to entrapment effects, I never see these really paying off. As long as you can nullify their ability to escape the grapple somehow these can be good.
Dodge Focus: Half the price of defense. 1/2 your defense is dodge anyway. Yeah you can lose it in some circumstances but realistically you should probably take tihs instead of defense. Just make sure you back it up with Uncanny Dodge.
Defensive Roll: The only way to buy up toughness is this, Con score, and powers. Might as well buy this up as this way is cheaper.
Favored Opponent/Critical Strike/Improved Critical: Great power, as it allows you to crit people immune to crits. This with improved critical where you get a huge crit range swing and you're getting +5 to damage TNs. Sure you need favored opponent (which is only good as a precursor to critical strike), but if you build yourself to crit, this makes it worth it.
Evasion: Who doesn't take this? It makes reflex based powers useless. Especially taking it twice.
Elusive Target/Precise Shot: These two counteract each other. As a melee character, this is strong as it can boost your defense above power level limits, but any ranged character worth his salt has the precise shots (or perception powers), so just like taking impervious or persistent, it's kind of a "why bother" power.
Fast Overrun: Do people actually take this?
Favored Environment/Sneak Attack/Rage: These things are all subject to power level limits, and situational. Sure if you can set them up they'd be cheaper than buying your power all the way up, but why bother?
Improved Aim/Improved Block/Improved Defense: These are actually very nice as they break power level limits. Improved aim taken twice is a great way to maximize tradeoff damage. Drop your attack to increase your damage, and offset your penalties with improved aim. You lose an action, but totally worth it! Improved Block/Defense are nice if you're the type of character to use these options. Just beware of the perception based powers.
Prone Fighting: Unless you're playing Dr. Boskonavich this is a niche power at best. It's nice if you're using super slithering or something and just taking it for free defense against ranged attacks, but how often are you fighting prone anyway?
Throwing Mastery: This is actually nice as it allows you to throw harmless things for damage. Great when your # of powers is limited as it keeps you in the action even during nullifies. Keep in mind anything can be thrown- crayons, dice, pebbles, peanuts.
Improved Disarm/Improved Sunder/Weapon Bind/Weapon Break: Not all that many people seem to use weapons- lots of powers, and even those that do can usually be taken down with a stun attack, fatigue, snare, or just damage. A niche bunch at best.
Redirect: Good with improved block.
Move By Action: Not bad if you're a speedster or have a big fly speed, and if you rely on melee as you can attack and then move out of counterattack range. But as most people I've seen either have ranged, perception, or low movement, another niche feat.
Improved Trip/Improved Throw: Seriously? If this is a VERY low powered world, maybe. But making someone prone does very little to stop them from using powers or escaping. Almost never comes up.
Stunning Attack: Not bad in limited power worlds, as its a feat that can hold its own with power TNs. You need to be in melee though.
Takedown Attack: Nice if you get surrounded by minions, but an area attack does just as well. If you're focusing on being a melee fighter of some kind maybe you can make this work, but I rarely see it come up.
Improved Initiative: The fact that there is no upper limit to this means for 5 points you can pretty much always go first, which is nice if you need to go first.
Fortune Feats
Beginner's Luck: I guess this could come up, but skills are so cheap and ability scores so plentiful that I never see this pay out.
Inspire: This can be great for some character types, as the bonuses break power level limits.
Leadership: Good for a support character with limited # of powers as it can remove conditons if they come up, but the cost of a hero point is pretty steep when the same hero point could get you an alternate power.
Luck: Who doesn't fill this up? Extra hero points, which powers everything your character does? Buy these up!
Seize Initiative: I don't see this being so relevant. Improved initiative costs no hero point, though you need to buy it a few more times to ensure you go first.
Ultimate Effort: This can be great for several effects. Ultimate attack is great when you've sold your attack for extra damage (but not if you need to compound with a critical). Ultimate save eliminates the need to use hero points to reroll saves because you can force a success. And ultimate skill is mostly useless unless it's a skill you can't take 20 on and you need it to succeed RIGHT NOW, but you need to know the skill in advance. This is so situational you may be better of getting this feat via extra effort when you need it.
General Feats
Ambidexterity: This is useless! Grants no extra attacks, so just in case you need to carry something in your offhand and attack? So situational as to not matter.
Assessment: Another highly situational power that almost never comes up.
Benefit: People seem to take this a lot for role playing perspective, but it rarely serves a mechanical purpose.
Diehard: With all the healing and regeneration floating around this never comes up.
Eidetic Memory: Another power people seem to love to take and rarely comes up. Depends on how mean your GM is when it comes to Pcs remembering things.
Endurance: The saves against weather and temperature and running don't come up all that often, and if they do, you can get environmental adaptation instead. I guess these could come up, but it seems that immunity and flight and such are so common I rarely see people put off by these situations.
Equipment: This is the way to spend points on equiment, which is necessary if you want your character to have basic things like cars and cell phones. A must have. I don't know how many superhero teams have had to take the bus to crime scenes! So unless you're all speedsters and teleporters and telepaths you should plan a couple points into this one!
Fearless: Another staple. A 1 point feat that nerfs an entire subset of powers.
Fearsome Presence: Why bother? Everyone should have fearless!
Instant Up: Well it's this or Prone Fighting I guess. If you're using knockback all the time this can be useful, but so many characters fly or teleport it never seems to come up.
Interpose: This is a nice defensive power to protect your team with, assuming you're standing next to them and they're being attacked by a non-perception power. Great for saving civilians as well.
Master Plan: I like this one, especially combined with Inspire as you can put both of them up at once. You need to spend time setting it up, but it's a nice way to get around those pesky power level limits.
Minions/Sidekick: I'm not sure how I feel on these ones. It's like leadership from D&D. Does your party really need more characters in combat? This gets so breakable as well. I've seen minions as AI for a fleet of spaceships, a sidekick who was nothing but a "mimic battery" for a mimic to hide their powers in so that they couldn't lose them, and so forth. Great for the PCs, but usually a nightmare for the GM, and you can get into debates as to whether something is a minion or sidekick instead of being equipment or a device. An intelligent sword with powers for example which can take independent actions and may be cheaper than paying for a device?
Quick Change: A cute RP ability if secret identities are important in your campaign.
Second Chance: This is actually quite powerful if you know the kind of things you're fighting against, and if you don't, I'd use extra effort to emulate it for the relevant encounter. The ability to re-roll failed saves is huge. I'll take a fatigue for the combat if it means best of two saves against mind control, or petrification, or whatever save or die power the enemy is using (especially nullify!). Often cheaper than immunity, and can be coupled with the 1/2 power immunity (where you take the limited that the power comes in at 1/2 ranks instead of you being fully immune). Hugely overlooked feat!
Teamwork: The aid action is not a team attack, so in edge situations where you are assisting with a skill roll. Skill rolls get so high that this never seems to matter, though you can use it to get them bonus to their attack rolls.
Trance: I've never seen this used ever.
Skill Feats
Acrobatic Bluff/Startle/Taunt: These are okay I guess if you have the one set of skills and not the other, but since skills or so cheap I rarely see this come up.
Animal Empathy: Depends on the campaign, but this is another one I hardly see become relevant and is so situational you may want to just use extra effort to fake it if it comes up.
Artificer/Inventor/Ritualist: These 3 are the same power with different skills, and of them Ritualist uses only 1 skill while Artificer and Inventor use 2. These have a huge benefit as they grant you temporary powers, and the jury rigging concept that gives the power in rounds is big too. Very few mechanical reasons NOT to take these feats.
Connected/Contacts/Well Informed: Mainly for RP purposes, but good feats for that purpose if you're that type of character. Helpful for the GM if you have these feats as it allows him to more easily introduce info to the party.
Distract: Another feat that replaces a skill with a power, good for low # of power campaigns.
Fascinate: I like this mainly because it's an interaction effect that can affect a group. Great for villains who want to monologue, since the party can be held at attention while he goes off. Also good if a PC wants to distract a group of enemies with "Storytelling" or something, just appearing to be a bumbling fool while his friends slip away. Another thing here as since this is opposed by another skill check rather than being "saved against" the TN is not based on power level limits, and the team can aid another to make the DC unbeatable. Likewise the enemy can monologue while his minions aid him to force the party to listen to the whole thing.
Improvised Tools: If you have the skills that are relevant for this, you should take this. If not, don't bother. Why carry tools ever when for 1 point you don't need to? Remember the equipment costs power points also!
Jack of All Trades: Another feat you might as well get unless you plan on having all skills (or at least the trained only ones). If you have a high intelligence character, this is helpful to allow them to make any knowledge check whenever.
Skill mastery: This one almost never comes up, but I guess it's nice if the GM is specifically putting you in situations where you need to make skill checks while being attacked, but I never see it become necessary.
Track: This is also a power, so the fact that it's a feat is nice for limited # of power campaigns, otherwise just take it as a power.
Hide in Plain Sight: A must-have for any sneaky character.
Your comments on these powers and feats seem to be almost completely those of a " min/max" mentality, with little regard for the roleplaying applications.
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