Playing with an Empath teaches you a thing or two about 'good' and 'bad' teams, prob more do do with the players themselves rather than the teams. On a 'bad' team you'll find that you are healing loads without being able to buff much, and on a 'good' team you and buffing with a little time to spare.
This is being general. It does depend on your level (higher lvl empath can sometimes join in the fight). I have to agree with TG, a team that knows their empath will not dedicate them to mere healing duties, they will expect all buffs comming to them, for example Fort for the tanks/scrappers, AB for scrappers/blasters, CM for the trollers and other Defenders, RA & Regen to be dropped either before a nasty battle or when the team needs it and when the team understands they need to be close in order to receive it.
Having played both Rad & Emp, Empathy are the most varied alongside Kinetics. Both a Kin & a Emp will do more for your killing ratio whereas a Rad will compensate for a tank in certain situations.
It really depends who you are teamed with. A Storm/Rad/Dark I would say is better suited to Blasters, Emp or Kin are much better with melees like tanks or scrappers, whereas trollers can work nicely with them all.
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So now I though I'd try to go for one which I don't see very often, I've got a nice little "receptionist by day, master of winds by night!!" Storm/Elec Defender which I find quite nice to solo on.
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Lol thats the defender combo I have just made. One thing that is very important I find, use Gale correctly or it annoys the Tanks and Scrappers. 
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Much as I love Empaths around on a team (I do, although i prefer others in a GOOD team), I am not sure they are the most diverse set in the pack... they are all buffs and heals. Storm and Rad do Debuffs, Buffs, Heals AND odds (like knockback, attacks, and holds), and every other set does at least two functions (e.g. Sonic debuffs, protects, holds, buffs, Forcefield buffs, knockbacks, disorientates, holds)
Can you really say Empaths are most varied?
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Variety and diversity are different things. The sets you describe truly have variety however they are not sets with the ability to fully switch focus and change the balance within a team. The empathy set is the most diverse because it can set the stance within a team or adopt the same stance the team is following at any given moment and no other set is able to do that at the degree the empathy set does. During heavy duty missions (8 people team invi setting) teams follow different stances. I will break it down to two to explain shortly. Aggressive stance where the team moves on the simple rule of tanker goes in scrappers follow blasters blast.In this case the Empath sets him self as a designated buffer by proactively buffing the team and helping in the mopping up and preserving health status within the team if necessary. Due to the fact that that such stance is followed usually by experienced teams in heavy duty missions the Empath perform very little healing and sticks to performing proactive buffing.
The second stance is the case where the Empath will find himself in weaker teams in terms of players or AT's or even tactics. In that case the team has a more defensive stance due to the inability to properly deal with aggro. Hence the empath is required to perform heavy duty healing and life support.
It might sound similar but its not. Each of the two require a completely different playstyle from the empath as well as completely different power allocation within the team.
The empathy set doesnt have variety. It focuses purely on your 2 bars as well as your damage and status. The vital signs of the player. However the diversity is really really big compared to the other sets. And thats because the rest of the sets are not interracting with the team to the degree the empathy set does.
For the record i am not saying the empathy set is the best set out there as i really love the storm and force field sets.