[...] and sifting through the posts from all the IIBovineSSDivision types is getting thoroughly tiresome.
For this grave insolence I officially declare thy an enemy of RtN and cows. You cannot run, you cannot hide. Wherever you go, there will be cows watching you. Whatever game you play, a RtN member will streamsnipe you until you apologize for your behavior.
Now more seriously. This game is not only played by top 10/20/50/200 1v1 players, but also has a major amount of people playing 3v3, 4v4 or compstomps. The balance that top 1v1 players seek is probably not the one casual 4v4 players seek. That this often conflicts can be seen in the forums or if you simply ask people. An IS-2 is an issue in a 1v1 and most players would say it overperforms (due to instant squadwipes, heavy armor), similar for the KV-8. If you ask a 4v4 player about the IS-2 most will say it comes out far too late and is too weak (once again, similar for the KV-8). So unless you have different values for different gametypes you will rarely achieve a balance that's good in 1v1 as well as 4v4. In a similar way there is the difference between casual and competitive. Most casual players play CoH2 because it's visually appealing. Their micro and attentiveness is not as high as for a competitive player which often causes a differing opinion on units. Prime example for this is the T34. Used frontally against a PIV it will work only mediocre, yet if you manage to get a good flank and can attack it's rear it can compete against a ~1/3 more expensive unit.
I think the majority of the people posting in these balance threads tend to only think about themselves. That's no problem as long as all types of players are represented and can argue for their way. Yet confining it to only the "top 200" or such would break this. As much as the "top x" 1v1 players think of themselves as the glorious best part of CoH2, a lot of them lack a deeper understanding of the mechanics and even more important the understanding that they are just one part of the community.