Well, what changed is that this is brand new in C4D :) As such some one or two things that are in Max have not yet made their way over to C4D as yet, just due to the scale of the task.
Most of the effects should be achievable using the Scale transform (scale 0 is the same as not showing up :) ), or using the improved area controls to include or exclude using objects or open/closed splines. Indeed the biggest use of Distance into Scatter was to do things like carve paths through the scatter, but this can now be done directly using the spline include/excludes cutting out the extra step and processing.