User blog comment:GokūBlack10/Secrets of the Rinnegan/@comment-3403804-20140511233602

I don't think it's ever been mentioned that the Rinnegan has the ability to see that far. In terms of pure sight it is most likely inferior to both the Rinnegan and the Sharingan. While I do think that you offer an interesting explanation of how it's wielder can manipulate the six paths, It's unfortunately little more than a core belief. Not really useful in terms of roleplaying, which is the true reason the Rinnegan is seen as overpowered, because noone has any idea how the heck this thing is accomplished. Making it, in my opinion invalid in roleplays until that problem is solved, preferably by Kishimoto himself, but, since I don't trust him to do that, most likely by a very analytical and knowledgeable user.

I also disagree with your notion that the Rinnegan is a natural evolution of the Sharingan. Considering the information revealed to us recently, I personally think that the Sharingan and the Rinnegan are pretty much entirely unrelated. It's dependant on the reincarnations of Indra and Asura uniting in order to awaken. As long as these conditions are fulfilled, and realistically, they should be extremely hard to. Then I believe that the Rinnegan will appear in the subjects eyes, regardless of whether or not he or she possesses the Sharingan, is connected to either the Uchiha, Senju or Uzumaki clans or heck, is even a shinobi at all.

I consider the Rinnegan to be no more powerful than the other dojutsu in the Trinity, both the Byakugan and the Sharingan possess tremendous power. The Rinnegan has so far only been seen wielded by characters who were already enormously powerful, it doesn't grant much on it's own beyond the possibility of awakening the six paths. A process I don't think is at all automatic. If we look at it's core values, it allows the user to see the flow of chakra and learn and use all five elements with proficiency.