Would anyone take a melee power set with lots of Knock Down instead of damage?

I've always wondered why there was no melee set, similar to Martial Arts, but which was based on throws rather than punch/kick. The idea would be that damage would almost always be Minor, while the main effect would be Knock Down (with animations designed to look like an enemy being grabbed and thrown to the ground, Jiujitsu or Aikido style). It would almost be a kind of melee-based control set.

Now, I figure this has gotta be doable from an animation point of view, and I don't see any problems with it from a mechanics/balance point of view (knock downs that fail to proc would just look like a failed throw). But would such a set be so unpopular that it wouldn't be worth implementing? How could it be made interesting enough to be at least as popular as, say, spines (which I don't see that often compared to other scrapper power sets)?

Number one problem with your idea is the proposed lack of damage. Melee characters live and die on their ability to down enemies before they get overwhelmed. Outside of concept players, nobody would touch a powerset that plays like a severely gimped controller.

The thing is, they had to add containment in order to make controllers viable (from their all control, low damage genesis). And this is what you're basically proposing, a melee controller with a lot of soft controls.

I think that in order for this to work, you'd need to add something similar, enhanced damage to an opponent that is already knocked down - which is a mechanic that doesn't exist (to my knowledge).

Still, it's an interesting idea.

I'm currently enjoying my Martial Arts tank with the Kinetic Combat proc in Thunder Kick and Storm Kick (20% Knockdown each), Kick (15% Knockback) and Crane Kick (60% Knockback).
Fighting a single target, I'd say they're upright and fighting less than 50% of the time, and it looks like theyre constantly getting tripped and thrown.
(Spring Attck and Dragons Tail coming up too... )

But I don't think I'd take even a single power that mainly did Knockdown instead of damage.

That would be a bit like Stun in Energy Melee, or how Cobra Strike/KO Blow/Clobber used to be. I do occasionally take Stun from Energy Melee, but thats to stack hard control. Wasting animation time and endurance on soft control alone would be an exercise in frustration.

A whole set of low damage throws? No thank you.

My advice is take your favourite existing melee set and invest in some Kinetic Combat procs. They're cheap, and quite effective at doing what you're describing.