Where's the Offense?

Surely some of you have come across pieces of equipment with a "Offense" boost... always displayed after the Defense ratings... I was curious as to what (exactly) does this rating provide you?
Is it accuracy boost, to counter for high dodge ratings? is it extra damage? It appears thus far, to be a sort of "hidden" statistic.
I searched the Forums at CO, in hopes of finding it for myself, but I came up empty handed, hopefully you guys can banish this enigma!

The roleplaying game Champions worked like this

Your dex/3 was your combat value, CV. Attackers would add offensive skill levels to CV to get OCV, your offensive combat value. Defenders would add defensive skill levels (or maneuver bonuses like dodge) to CV to get DCV, their defensive combat value. To find your 'hit' roll, you would add to the number 11 the value (OCV - DCV). Then you would roll 3, 6-sided dice and add them up...if you were under that number you hit them.

So offense in that system increased your liklihood of hitting.

THis game is a lot different though. Things like dodge add avoidance which reduces damage received, not your odds of being missed.

My best guess is high offense values reduce mitigation from things like shield block, unbreakable, or avoidance, and let more of your damage land.

thanks, starting to make sense.
If anyone knows where to find "Official" values, please let me know...

Per the strategy guide, all attack powers are improved when you get an increase to offense. Stacking offense is almost as good as adding points to your two characteristic focuses (super stats). The damage improvements are equivalent though super stats give you more peripheral improvements because they affect other aspects of your character.