Seriously as a OL get into an alliance that hunts a lot and party with them use blunt to do damage and just be a dd/buffer don't waste time with polearms now with the penalties. Most allainces should be happy to get a OL and happy to help you level if not ditch them for a better one. I know my allaince has several and we are leveling up more when you are seiging and have a overlord cp heal 100+ guys for 600+ CP over and over it makes a big difference
In C4, they have changed the aoe rules to where you need to have a mastery to be able to hit more than 10 mobs (I think.) Your % of hitting them drops drastically after lvl 40 without the skill.
As an OL, I would reccomend you not to use a polearm as it will just wake up the crowdcontrolled mobs. Your mp could be put to better use with debuffs if you arent the main buffer.
For solo, try the pole..its always fun to kill a crapload of mobs at once, especially as an OL with aoe root/sleep/ cook. Back in the days of Cruma, we had an OL named vicoo that saved our *** more than once when he crowd controlled 3 DL groups and the legos. I had no idea what an OL was, but that guy rocked.
Think of it this way, one thing you are NOT is an Archer, but you can still use Archer's weapon, their bow.
However, you will never be the master of the bow like a true archer would, but none the less, you can still load and semi-accuractly hit targets that ever very close to you. However, Damage, Range, Accuracy you'll have with the Bow won't be like that of an Archer. Same exact thing with a Pole weapon as you're no Destroyer or Warlord.