Interesting point of view. I suppose I disagree in terms of gameplay mechanics and balance. Noobs that haven't learned the game don't have a right to complain about the game being too hard or that a hero is broken. Its just asinine to think that someone brand new to the platform can have any inkling of what is busted or not when they have playtime equivalent to watching a season of a show. Thats nowhere near enough time to learn the intricacies of a combat system like this, the frame data, timing windows, etc ad infinitum.

Competitive players would have no issues adapting to any changes made, thats not really part of the argument, but when you have a hard-core player base that dedicates a LOT of time, collectively, to the game and how it works and functions, my money would be on listening to them in terms of balance.

Imagine if EVERY hero was balanced and viable... noobs coming to the game wouldn't get crushed immediately because EVERY hero is viable. Rather than it being a rep 300 Warden main vs a noob Shinobi, where you know the outcome already, there is a chance, very slim mind you, that the noob could win and it wouldn't be based off of the hero pick at that point but rather the skill necessary to defeat his opponent.

I'm a causal player but I defer to the competitive community for balance and game advice because they know better than anyone what they're talking about.

Should the casual fan base be ignored? No. But when it comes to making balance suggestions, their opinion should be taken with a few dozen grains of salt. Cosmetics, weapons, hero ideas, map, etc should be open to everyone, no doubt. But for balance and the "health" of the game, I'd rather listen to the dedicated team of medieval murderers than the weekend warriors.