You say that ram is risk reward, well mostly its profit, i think about 1 in 5 rams i get a crew shock, also ramming a p4 pretty much always disables it unless its vet 2.
If both side has At guns supporting, then the russians profit as the t34 costs less.
I just played 2 consecutive games where my Ace was completely disabled from the first T34 Ram, one was from the rear the other from the side.
Ram against Panthers and doctrine tanks are much more probably to fail.
Even a successful ram usually gives the german tank the possibility to retreat with the engine broken. On the other hand, T34 is immobile and it takes very few shots to get destroyed.
I personally find that T34 finally is well balanced. Is a good AI tank that used wisely can face some heavy tanks or at least support SU85.
It's cheaper than other medium tanks because they are intended to die fast.