Give it some time guys, feel it fully out and maybe brainstorm some counters before ya pass absolute judgement.
People have played enough to know what the Afflictor can do.
The only thing stopping torpedo Afflictor from doing too much damage is lack of ammo. It kills a few ships, then it leaves. However, I cannot think of anything that can stop it aside from the enemy not deploying a big enough target for it kill.
Fighter heavy fleets are probably not as vulnerable to Afflictors due to few viable targets, but given how weak fighters are, more conventional enemy fleets will tear fighters apart (more easily than non-fighter fleets).
Hyperion, a playership that can stop it, is rare. Some players may need to resort to save-scumming a deserter fleet to board one late in the game. I suppose another phase ship could try to stop the Afflictor, probably mirror match. Thanks to phase cloak's time shift, very few ships can keep up with an Afflictor. Those that can are rare and fragile enough to die if disrupted then shot for one or two-hit kill.
Afflictor is a "demonic spider".