Zen needed a buff. McCree probably didn't need a buff while Soldier was nerfed, that is still fucking things up. The problem is now Zen needs to be nerfed pretty heavily and there people saying he's fine and the tournament pickrate doesn't matter. IT does, actual game balance assumes that players are playing of an equal skill level at the highest level.
Balance at low levels exists but it's a bit different. Again, this is why Bastion exists. He's a monster DPS for newer players, but has those weaknesses. HE's balanced in such a way that newer players eventually get nudged towards higher mechanical skill heroes that actually offer more DPS in the long run. The real competitive balance of the game at hat level doesn't matter, whoever has the better mechanics should win outright. That perceived balance is an issue, yeah, but high level balance generally doesn't effect it outside of character reworks. It's more baked into the overall design than anything.
It's all a mess, but dismissing tournament pickrate and what happens at the high level in regards to balance is asinine. Thats's where the actual tuned balance comes from, anybody lower and you redesign perceptions until they get ot the point where that higher level balance matters.
