The sense I get from re-reading this thread is that everyones got a similar idea of what to do its just that no-one has managed to have much success with it.
C'mon Illwinter - 2 spine devils for 5-6 blood? It is a blood 2 ritual so it takes a costly mage to perform and if you only get one devil its hard to make the spell cheap enough in blood slaves to be efficient. If it only required blood1 it might be different.
And some bronze armour?
I feel that Illwinter have been somewhat cautious with their new nations and as a consequence only Machaka (which gets Plate) seems up to scratch. Its not that I want Mictlan and Tien Ch'i to be more like the classically successful races - I'd like them to be a bit better at what they do.
I believe that the central focus on balence redressing should be improving underpowered options not weakening useful options. The only exception I can think of at present would be a decrease in the finanicial effectiveness of Order as part of improving turmoil/luck races.
Cheers
Keir