I think the answers pretty simple.
Balance will always be an issue with AOS. There will never be a stable settled point in the mortal realms for everything to fall into place and be tweaked ad infinitum. Why? Because there will always be new releases, and lots of them. And they need to sell them.
Oh, forgot to mention. This doesn't matter, because the game is for the players, just house rule stuff and have fun. I'm afraid the competitive scene will always have some bias in it.