"... Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known. . . ..."
From 25000 to 19 years before Yavin, Yoda is the most powerful Jedi up till that point
Vitiate lost to a lesser Jedi
RotS Sidious won against the more powerful one
That quote was written from Yoda's own perspective. Thus he could be wrong, and since theres a whole host of Jedi throughout history whose level of power he isn't an authority on, we can't say he's likely to be right either. Besides which is how ridiculous it is to say that Yoda's the fiercest foe of darkness ever.
Also power isn't the be-all, end-all in combat.
Originally posted by Jen55nifer
You mean The Emperor, for all his inherent power, has relatively slow reflexes?
No, he's a force user. Almost all force users have fast reflexes by default, but we shouldn't just grant Vitiate with Sidious-level speed in a vs. forum just because he is extremely powerful. Force speed, as with almost any force power, is not just reliant on power alone, but a certain level of mastery as well. We don't grant ROTS Sidious with Vitiate's level of telepathy on account of being extremely powerful, so why should we make an exception for Vitiate? Sidious had to hone his speed and reflexes under Plagueis' training, and learned how to use it in combat. It wasn't just granted to him just because he was basically the dark side's ultimate tool and likely had the greatest potential of any sith in history. No, he had to work for it and hone it.
Originally posted by Mhameri2891
But we can't say Vitiate is superduper fast simply by virtue of being a powerful sith lord.
That's right. That's his point. He's saying that the same standards that preclude ROTS Sidious from being comparable to Vitiate as a telepath (no feats) preclude Vitiate from being comparable to ROTS Sidious in speed (no feats).
If speed is an argument then it should be kept in mind that Vitiate can unleash his Force powers at such a speed that he doesn't grants opportunity to any kind of opponent to even land a blow at him, let alone blitz him. This of-course excludes his vulnerable condition, but even in his vulnerable condition, he didn't get blitzed by a supremely talented swordsman.
The whole matter is a complex one; precognition; reaction-rate; command of the Force; training; all of these factors jointly come in to play. Vitiate is not to be underestimated in these aspects.