Hooray for single player games like Master of Magic where balance can take a backseat to variety. Balance has become an obsession of modern gamers, and it makes perfect sense in a multiplayer game, but in a game like Master of Magic what is the point?
As long as the balance is not so skewed as to create only one possible choice, it only serves to create varying levels of difficulty in a game like MoM.
You can create your own settings beyond choosing the difficulty setting, such as you have done with your "these are the only races I play" and "This is the magic I consider overpowered".
The very thing you guys are debating about has extended the life and replayability of Master of Magic.
And honestly, by comparison do you think that Dominions is all that balanced? There are weak blesses, weak magic paths, weak nations, and what people would consider "overpowered" versions of each as well. To the point that the end game strategy in Dominions is fairly uniform with the early to mid game strategy being only the means of getting there.
Of course in single player Dominions we can create our own rules just like we did with Master of Magic
