You talk about experience teaching us how to spot good times to use abilities. Well, experience has taught me that the only time living bomb is the best tool for the job is when I need to dump heat ‘right now’. Every other situation can be dealt with using ranged attacks, juiced-up melee or pushes, and they can do it without leaving me with gimped damage and no panic button.
It’s not about holding onto your ult until you absolutely need it, it’s about holding onto your heat until you can’t afford to anymore.
People saying “well she’ll need to be nerfed before you can buff the ult” are missing the point, which is that the ult feels weak and boring. The rest of her kit has no bearing on that.