Solo it would be like pulling teeth slow in every department. You would need to team pretty much all of the time to realize your potential, and then I think it would be lacking. There are other sets that I think you would enjoy more. For my money I would push you towards Illusion / Radiation or Illusion / Kinetic, as a starter for 10 I think you would get much more mileage Good luck
@Boy Wonder
Quantum Flash - Ill/Kin Controller
Leader of the Legion of Heroes
Empathy is the only real set for Healing, but don't miss out on the buffs it contains- they are very nice! 
As for controllers doing damage, some combinations can do very nice damage 
Try Mind/Empath. Mind provides better and safe soloing, but not the fastest one. Rad or Kinetic secondary maybe open a path to more easy soloing but if you want especially /Empath part that's the all advice i can give to you. I played Mind/Empaths on low levels tho, when people see Empath secondary expect too much from you, they expect you to act as an Empathy defender. Or maybe you want to try Gravity. Ice and Earth less damaging controller sets. Mind is most controling controller. Gravity have a good Pet and nice damaging single target attack. Fire most damaging primary both in powers and in pets. Illusion have many pets but lack of controling ability of other sets.
These are my thoughts on controllers. But as i love Mind Control too much i can't say this is an objective opinion. 
Wait a little for other replies or try them little by little and decide yourself.
Have fun with your controller.
I woud say, try it, love it become lvl 50 with it.
Keep in Mind that you are an Support Troller and do not slot too much your Heals, as said at low levels people think youre an Healer, make clear that youre an Troller who can heal in between , not more. Stay this Way and keep your Ice Pool Primary then youre okay.
Also keep in Mind that youre not so Trollerish as Mind or Earth are but nobody is perfect
Braddack
Ice/Empathy is one of the concept builds I've been toying with actually... seems that it is now the build that's best suited to revealing stalkers in Zone PvP! Arctic Air reveals anything within 20 Feet of you regardless of how well stealthed it is, and any breed of empath can now get "Stealth" + a Stealth IO and run around healing/buffing teammates from hidden...
Soloing in PvE it's not as bad as it used to be. You have an AoE confuse in Arctic Air (which also takes 3 damage procs!), and Jack Frost has gotten a very nice buff lately with the "prefer melee" fix. On PvE teams; Shiver, Arctic Air and Ice Slick are the obvious advantages. You're basically there to slow the [censored] out of everything, Fortitude your teammates and heal whatever damage ends up getting through.
[ QUOTE ]
Hi
I am still pretty new to CoH, and have been experimenting with different AT's and skill sets. I am thinking of creating a Ice/Empath controller, and have searched the forums only to find no information on this skill set. Is it that bad? or just unpopular?
I have looked at the skills and like the idea of holds/healing is there a more efficient way of doing that than /empathy?
I might also be missing the point of a controller completely, I am looking at it as a support/support or support/heal class, and not really into massive damage the way a blaster is.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nope actually it's a fun toon. I took it because this toon satisfies me as I have to be up for a double challenge (heal&hold)
Ice Slick ftw, tanking with Frosty and arctic air(mass confusion ftw), holding bosses in ice blocks, are some things I'm really enjoying from the troller's side.
Due the fact sometimes you can\t find some ATs your lvl like trollers, tanks and good defenders (more like pure healers) I get invites in high lvls teams which expect from me to do both hold and heal. I must warn you, I'm doing like 60-65% healing/buffing and like only 40-35% hold. So if you want to do this and you are up for the challenge then go for this build. But since you said you're new in CoH, I wouldn't advice you to take this build. It's also a stressful toon in some unbalanced teams where all you have to do is stay and heal,buff,heal,buff, to take decisions like healing the tank and let some1 else die, so you don't get team wipe if tank dies.
In pvp I didn't enjoyed being hunted by every1(I usually hunt others with my scrapp :P) as I have poor defense and die faster, also due the fact in the same time I'm important for my team(heal,buff, debuff, hold).
So it's up to you, one more advice is you take this build, take everything from empath side except Absorb Pain which collides with you not being able to heal yourself after AP and taking all the aggro with ice slick. (I didn't took Resurrect also, as I would use it very rare.)
I tried an Ice/Empath for a few days, and it didnt work the way I was expecting, as Shinro said, I was healing more than anything else, which was not what I wanted, since I wanted to specialize in holds.
I have since rolled an Ice/Storm and even at the low levels (currently level 9) I am having a lot more fun, and my team mates tend to appreciate the holds more than they did the second rate healing. I have a feeling that this one will reach level 50 =)
@ Kira Dragon:
Its about you to heal or to Troll, just dont listen to the people who cry for more healpowers.
I went that Way with my Deep Earth, and sometimes i was near that Point to get more healing Power, but i was hard and take the Troller Way , i explaind all Groups i was in, and Today i am Happy to have only 1 Slot in my heal Powers but many 6 Slotted Earth Powers.
Just keep an cool head till you get in higher lvls and your Troll Powers gettings Stronger, then you love such an Build.
Heh nice to hear you found the troller you like Kira.
Empathy is better suited for Empath Trollers in my opinion; i mean putting heavy weight on Empathy instead of Controll (which i was tried with Hamiye and M-Path).
Hope to team up with you in game, Devil's Chant is lvl 7 and Trap Trick is lvl 8.
Cheers
Ice/Empathy can be a load of fun, I am currently playing through with that build and having a load of fun, you just need to remember you're a support character and soloing is near impossible until you have Jack..
As others have said with empathy, people will expect you to be a healer, which is why I've built mine as a healer, she has all of empathy, well slotted and I use the ice control to support those powers - iceslick around a heavily injured ally is your friend!
Ice is a fun set that you don't see enough, but if you don't want to be a healer pick a different secondary
Hi
I am still pretty new to CoH, and have been experimenting with different AT's and skill sets. I am thinking of creating a Ice/Empath controller, and have searched the forums only to find no information on this skill set. Is it that bad? or just unpopular?
I have looked at the skills and like the idea of holds/healing is there a more efficient way of doing that than /empathy?
I might also be missing the point of a controller completely, I am looking at it as a support/support or support/heal class, and not really into massive damage the way a blaster is.