Well, the reason it works like it does now is because in the original, every battle was just you keeping all of the enemies permanently CC'd from the get-go. The current system definitely helps to stagger that out. I do find that it adds to the strategy quite a bit.
It creates a niche for "breaker" type characters. Wizard, for example, is very much a MA breaker. They do a lot of widespread damage that can help burn through MA fast. The original game emphasized the "controller" role too much, and you could win nearly anything by chain CCing indefinitely...or just shocking a pool of blood.
Perseverance, I think, is a huge step in the right direction. In theory, at last. Currently, I've struggled to find it very useful...damage is just way overtuned in general, especially with AI 2.0. They'll be using PA breakers on your mages with low PA, and MA breakers on your melee with low MA. You'll be armor broken in one or two hits, even with 10 points in Perseverance, you won't escape the next hit.
