Oh, he might be me:
Balance is important and polishing things is good. I only play Darktide now when a good balance patch and/or fun gamemode comes out. This is because, while the game has an amazing gameplay loop, if the balance is a lopsided mess then the replay value drastically drops for me and many other people. If Darktide had more well measured balance patches to drastically increase viable playstyle diversity then I would probably have triple+ the hours in it.
Take into consideration just how EASY some balance changes can be. Is a weapon or talent either useless or overpowered? Just tweak the numbers or conditions slightly to make it function viably. Is the meta getting dominated by a single weapon (DS) that trivializes the game, even for people not using it since their random teammates will be? Nerf the stupidest parts.
Literally just opening up the code and changing a few numbers in a way that makes sense is all it can take to improve the game. Balance patches are an easy win for everyone and they don’t take up a lot of resources. People working on new maps and gamemodes aren’t going to all be the ones that just tweak the numbers on a few weapons and skills anyways. In fact since balance patches improve player retention then releasing more makes other projects the developers are working on worth more, because more people will stick around longer after content releases come out.
Good game balance is a force multiplier for a game’s long term success.