The balance team isn't paid. Not unless you count relentless forum abuse as payment.
That's not relevant. We're arguing about how valid criticism from casual coh2 players who never have worked on a patch is. What matters is the update's content and how it changes the gameplay experience of said people. It's not like the balance team creates something out of nothing. (eg a mod team, it's not justified to criticize them in the same way because they're creating new content which otherwise wouldn't exist at all) MrSmith et al are merely changing things, they could theoretically make the game worse. Which makes harsh but rational and non personal criticism totally fair.