A Simple look at why defense feels useless.

[Gonefshn]

I'll keep it short, we need continent locking.

In PS1 defense meant something and was important.
Here is why. In the current system for PS2 we have a never ending three way with indestructible spawn locations for each empire. If you are losing a base your empire can decide to leave because losing players at one location means a bump in players somewhere else. You will always be winning somewhere (theoretically with even pop).

With continent locking you often have only a 2 way fight depending on which empire is attacking you. If you chose to leave a fight in PS1 it meant you could lose your ability to spawn at that continent.

Simply, without the threat of losing your foothold on the continent you have no real threat to losing territory.