Unicorn:
Hmm, I rarely get Time outs all that often. It's really easy to make a concentrated push at some points, and force points in Incursion. In Meltdown, I feel somewhat similar. If you can clear a side of obstructions and push a giant minion, you get quite the solid boost.
LoL at Phoebe Broken. Her ranged attack is one of the weakest in the game, and getting an Oscar Mike Napalm on her after warping in can totally seal her fate, even if she tries to warp out. The Warp has solid start-up that can be cancelled, leaving her open to damage, and she always moves in the direction she's facing, which makes it easier to track where she's going.
The minions fuel your EXP growth, they drop shields best, they distract the sentry's cannons from ripping you up, and they even hurt enough to kill player characters that are escaping. Plus the Shield pulse from the Shepherds are lifesaving. In a way, I find them more useful and meaningful than the creeps in SMITE.
Merc's distract players from fighting in lane. And they removed the ability to knock them off edges. So it's always some degree of a time commitment, even with all critical hits. And if you Burst your Ult to take them down faster, that's something you can't use in the PVP that comes soon after.
I do have issue with how fast Turrets can be silenced by certain characters, but I like that they can purely count towards a players kills. I'm glad bots don't get hung up on them. Buying a gun while running away has saved me loads of times.
And LoL at unlocking seeming impossible. If there weren't 2 ways to get everyone, I'd agree. But you'll get rank eventually... and that will get you the characters. I never felt like I'd seen all the unlocked characters had to offer before unlocking new ones, and even with them all now (at like 80+ commander rank), I still feel like there's something new for me to try or do on almost every character.
I've encountered more suicidal Phoebe's than almost any other character, in all reality. She can't throw Boomerangs like Shane & Aurox, she doesn't have the absolute power and Status effect of Rath, and people like Kelvin take forever for her to kill. Her slow and Instant-Phasegate mutation really help her a lot, but they're not unbeatable in the least. If True strike made it harder for people to escape her, and Blade Rush shots were more spammable + had better damage, I'd be more willing to find her OP. But as one of my most played characters, I feel she's a solid specialist with a lot of counters if players are smart.
Character balance in general is something I've chilled out about as I play. I'm not getting one-shotted by Oscar Mike Air Strikes anymore, as I've learned to move much better, and are much more aware of my surroundings. I've seen characters properly outplay others in their disadvantageous situations, and I really feel like the player is more often at fault, than the character balance.