I have always been a fan of debuffs, soft crowd control, or effects that can be easily broken without players needing to expend resources - provided they’re thinking intelligently.
I feel that we should be looking to use effects that allow players to continue contributing to encounters, even if in a diminished capacity, as opposed to excluding them from it.
I believe that if takeouts are a thing, they should be a rare, scary, and higher level thing, so that when players see them, they know that things are dire. Currently there are so many takeouts in Alliance, that are so readily available, that it feels like people aren’t so much impressed by or afraid of them, as they have simply begrudgingly acccepted them as a near constant.
This post very neatly sums up my feelings on takeouts. I'm not sure the number of takeouts needs to decrease for scholars, but hard vs soft CC is a critical distinction. The more "sit down for 10 minutes" effects in the game the worse the game is. Shortening the duration on hard CC across the board (not just for players with a skill because this hurts new players), and limiting hard CC is critical. Removing Web was a very good and very tiny step in the right direction, but in my opinion complete takeouts should be 9th level spells only. Alchemy also needs to be reworked so low level effects are soft CC rather than hard CC and it is very expensive to throw hard CC effects.
Suggestions for more Soft CC:
New Spell: Soothe. (Command) Lasts 1 minute, creature cannot attack you or cast offensive spells at you for 1 minute. Level 1. Available to both Earth and Celestial.
Slow. Great inclusion in new rules. Perfect at level 2.
Repel. Good where it is.
Bind (Arms) Bind (Legs). Only one should be able to effect a character at a time.
Disarm. Increase to 3rd level. This effect is good just too easy to come by. Allow this effect to discharge magical energy held in hand as well.
Lesser Silence. Player can't cast spells over level 5. Level 4 spell. Can't talk louder than a whisper.
Weakness. Cause the player to do half damage rather than 5 less damage. Increase level by 1 to 4th.
Shun. Keep.
Sleep. Allow 1 point of damage to body wake the player up. Lower level by 1 slot to 5th.
Shatter/Destroy. Remove one shatter effect and allow the weapon/armor/shield to be repaired by Blacksmith. Reduce level to 6.
Silence/Destruction. Keep, maybe increase Silence by one level to level 6.
Confine. Get rid of this.
Charm. Keep.
Stun Limb. Keep.
Paralysis. Increase to 9th level.
Death. Keep.
Prison. No killing blows in a Prison DOES last 10 minutes, move to Bindomancy.
New Spell: Doom. Ranged Eviscerate (In Evocation School) for Celestial.
I'd also keep all necromancy. Necromancers should be scary.