Honestly, I can swallow most of the crap pushed through into EU canon. What infuriates me the most are the people who use these obscure powers and materials, things that were used by a single, exceptional individual or a handful of people, and not only do they suddenly know it, but they're totally in control of it, have mastered all aspects of it, and are supposed to be these great Force Users now.
Stupid powers are generally introduced for a story. When you remove the story, you're just left with stupid powers used by stupid people. It's one thing to struggle with controlling your budding battle meditation or creating a single Force Illusion. It's a whole different game when you're a Padawan, or even a Knight, and you're walking around, supposedly altering battles on a system-wide level and dropping two dozen illusions that no even a Jedi Master is supposed to be able to see through.