Like others have said, you need to slot your ST immobilze and ST hold for damage early on (2 acc, 3 dmg works well). Plus, take a damaging Pool power (I always take Air Superiority).
Here are some of my results:
Ill/FF - This alt leveled through the early game fairly quickly, thanks to Superior Invisibility and the FF powers keeping me safe. At 18, things really got rolling with my pet Tankers doing the heavy lifting.
Plant/TA- This is a good combination, as Seeds at lvl 8 makes soloing move a lot quicker. Plus, both Entangling Arrow and Ice Arrow set up containment, so you can fire either of those off, and then get full containment from Entangle, Strangler, and AS.
Fire/Thermal- This was more of an "up-close" Controller, as using Hot Feet (even with it's high END cost) really helps kill enemies quickly. /Thermal wasn't much help for soloing, but was a welcome addition for teams.
Gravity/Kinetics- I LOVE Propel! I find this power endlessly entertaining, and the damage is really nice, too. Grav Distortion, Propel, AS, and (I can't remember the other Grav power off-hand) are great for some efficient soloing. Plus, Siphon Power is a big help. This alt is lvl 24 now, and I'm starting to see some problems with lack of control, but there was little trouble leveling up at the early stages.
Earth/Storm- This was a tough alt to level up prior to 33. Fossilize, Stone Prison, and Air Superiority are your damage-dealers. /Storm powers help, but this was a slow go.
My Fire/Thermal, Plant/TA, and Gravity/Kinetics went from 1 to about 22 fairly evenly. In fact, I created these 3 alts at about the same time and wanted to level them all up together. After I got SOs (and Hot Feet), the Fire/Thermal really started to pull ahead. Plant/TA, thanks to some great controls, also pulled ahead of Grav/Kin about the same time.
The Ill/FF was my fastest soloer and, at level 38, is kind of stuck; not because of difficulty in playing, but because I've gotten a little bored with him. He's actually TOO safe and straight-forward. My Earth/Storm FINALLY made it past lvl 33 and is now a powerhouse. She takes on missions at the highest difficulty with ease and is a lot of fun to play, as there's such a variety of ways to play her.
Anyway, I hope this helps. You CAN solo with a Controller with a little patience. Once you get past the early levels, you'll definitely be rewarded for your effort. 
Please try my arcs:
Arc# 63910 "Why Do Bad Girls Like Bad Boys?" (length=Long, levels 40+)
Arc# 401500 "How to Be a Successful Professional Criminal" (length=Very Long, levels 1-10)
Just so you know, after containment, Fire controllers have comparable DPA in their first two "attacks" as blasters (pre Defiance, anyway). Char & RoF both have DPA numbers that are just over half of most Blaster tier 1 & 2 attacks, which is to say equal or even better once you throw in containment. The fact they also hold & immob is just gravy.
Other sets don't fare nearly as well, but you still get decent, defender level numbers once you throw on containment, so for soloing, feel free to slot those tier 1 & 2s w/damage and "blast" away.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
I have no damage issues with my current controllers.
Containment does wonders against single targets early on and post Stamina; mobs should be getting their behinds handed to them.
Most of the primaries have something available early on to help mitigate mobs so that you can pick them apart at a more leisurely pace; like sleeps, confuse, slicks ,etc.
And this is all just offerings from your primary. With secondaries, like /Kin and /Rad; you can really start pushing out acceptable damage (and then some) before too long.
Just watch your endurance bar.
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars
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it seems to me that controllers are totally incapable of doing damage as they literally have no damage dealing primary or secondary...until they get pets.
How do you do it?
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Three pages worth of replies, but I'll go ahead and specifically point out where you missed an important point in your analysis. It really does seem like Controllers should be unable to deal damage, just as the devs described combos such as Defense/Buff-Debuff would be, back in Beta.
The devs were intentionally trying to avoid such characters, though, that could be created without attacks. And the solution for Controllers is that many Control Powers are ATTACKS. Just about every Control Set has a single target Immobilize, a single target Hold, and an AoE Immobilize that deal damage. For the single target powers, the damage is usually at least damage scale 1, the same as a basic attack for a Blaster or Defender. In fact, the Immobilize Controllers get for their Tier 1 attack is usually exactly the same Immobilize that Blasters get for the first power in their Secondary.
When combined with Containment, this should allow any Controller to solo through the early levels. Additional Control Sets have actual attacks, such as Gravity's Propel, Mind Control's Levitate or (the best of them all) Illusion's Spectral Wounds. These have at least a damage scale of 1.32, with Spectral Wounds doing 2.64, if Containment is set and the heal effect is not allowed to take place.
And while there is no reason to prefer either the Immobilize or the Hold as the power to set Containment, personally I tend to decide which based on the Set. For instance, with Earth I will usually set Containment with the Immobilize since it is a DoT, and the Hold does all its damage at once. Thus, I get the majority of the damage immediately. I will also (if I'm feeling brave) use the AoE Immobilize to set Containment, that lets me get the crit with both single target attacks.
It can also help the damage of a Controller a lot to pick up a Power Pool attack or a Vet Reward early on. Brawl does not get Containment (not sure why...) but Pool attacks do, so you can actually do respectable damage with them, and Vet Reward attacks do the same damage regardless of AT, and so they tend to do about double the amount of damage you do anyway, even if Containment doesn't effect them.
And also note this applies to Dominators as well. While obviously they have a whole Secondary full of attacks, in fact like Blasters, they actually have one and a half (or at least 1 1/3) Sets of damage dealing powers.
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I find that air superiority speeds things up considerably and it costs less end for the damage then either your hold or immobilize.
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This is the one drawback to the Controller "attacks". While they deal damage while also caging foes, they have an End cost that reflects that. So yeah, grabbing an attack from the Pool can increase your soloing ability considerably.
(My Controller uses three Pool attacks with Blind to set Containment. With that combo, he can almost solo Bosses, he needs a little help from Decieve or Phantom Army, but a good portion of the damage is done himself. Of course, said Controller is a Scraptroller and not built for teams, I pretty much refuse any invite I ever get on him, and have him marked "Not Looking For Team")
Controllers are all about waging a war of attrition...
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
...I am so pwned. I clicked on a link in a post about rick rolling.