I think Post ED was far more overpowered then Pre ED when inventions came out. It just made you have to earn being overpowered. Which I felt was a good thing, one shouldn't be overpowered just from being overpowered being handed to you on a silver platter. The incarnate powers in fact were also the same way in if they made you overpowered, well you earned them, you weren't just given them on a silver platter. How fast you got them really depended on what incarnate trials you did most, I prefered to do every one of them except for the underground trial(which honestly suffered fake difficulty due to the boss mechanics allowing for griefers to kill the entire league with ease). In fact I actually enjoyed all of them, just the underground trial really needed something to more clearly indicate who was targetted by the league-wiping attacks.