I meant that a greater percentage of the mods out there would be acceptably balanced. People who are good at balancing will obviously produce well-balanced mods, and it's understandable to say "well, they should have balanced their mod better," but the fact remains that a higher number of mods with acceptable balance is better for all of us. I do see your point about the sliders being more compact, but I still think they encouraged min-maxing and made it more difficult for some less competent modders to balance.
the SEV system encourages min-maxing just as much as "sliders" does. it just does it in single blocks instead of smaller steps.
don't for crying out loud limit the good modders just because bad modders can't do (or are to lasy to do) basic math.
a propper "slider" system with a formula could allow diminishing returns for the cost as it goes up (or an exponetial increase in cost for each 'step'. THIS system is automaticly balancing (up to a point) since minimizing something will give you diminishing points, but maximizing something will cost you exponetialy. therefore, min-maxing will be more costly than going for something in the middle.
and I might add, with a modable formula you can do whatever the hell you like.
(and btw, some people like being able to min-max, personaly I don't mind it up to a point, but I can see why others do.)
Like I said, tastes and preferences. I've made my case and you've made yours. Fence sitters who are reading will have been convinced by one side or the other by this point.