An opinion can still have an impact if it's what the majority of people believe. Look at the SF community's opinion on BB and how it affects how they treat it and other anime games, etc.
The balance is good, as far a simple balancing, but there's different kinds of balancing. For instance, you could balance the game by nerfing everyone, or by giving everyone tools to handle things. If you reduced every character to one move that was identical the game would be balanced, but it would be pretty bad balancing because it would be a terrible game to play.
As for dying on the USA, what do you think it is then.