Tbh most balance change threads get buried with downvotes even on reddit, and by the looks of it developers are aknowledging that the game is mostly balanced and balance patches are getting less frequent and less impactful, being made mostly by small tweaks.I understand, and I mostly agree.
Still, I think in any setting - especially the most popular ones, like Arabia, no matter if 1v1 or TG - there shouldnt be just 1 or 2 out of 42(?) civs that dominate all others. And in a TG, as flank doing what is viable nowadays - going 2 ranges archers - probably ethiopians, maybe chinese - are the only civs that even have a shot against the Britons/Mayans combo, but are still in disadvantage. Mainly due to the Britons faster production Bonus, which helps mayans with their cheaper archers even more.
Of course Civs shine in different settings, but it would be nice to see maybe around 8-10 instead 2-4 Civs beeing viable in that setting. You dont want the same 2-3 civs completely dominating every 1v1 arena either. This is achieved easier by nerfing the 2-3 top civs instead of buffing the 40 other civs. Slightly nerfing the Britons team Bonus is the easiest way to achieve that, without changing too much about the game.
I agree that you can see tons of stupid balance suggestions in reddit forums by some 1100s who just want their favourite civ/strat/unit to be the best strat and actually have no clue about the game, wanting niche Units like skorpions or longswords to be legit for example. AoEZone is the place where (mostly) people have a better rating aswell as better understanding of the game. If we dont make good balance suggestions, Reddit people might just win.
I wouldn't be too scared by devs suddenly overhauling basic units or old civs for no reason, just following suggestion of random people who potentially has never player MP or don't even play at all. They have basically never done anything like that and I don't see why they should do It now, since anyone with a grain of salt agrees that there's no need to do anything like that