Honestly, as someone who DOES NOT play CRPGs of any kind, it was -fine- before. It made you learn the game and pay attention and think without being faceroll easy.
Now, it's faceroll easy. I do not need 100% more HP. 50% more was fine.
I do not need even more points to my perks on skill checks. +5 was fine.
And yet, the balanced mode is still too steep of a leap from explorer-- it was perfect the way it was before and I wish there was a way to revert it back. You could call this new buff to explorer mode something else for the complete and totally "can't understand skill systems" players so they can win fights and go see the story/romance simulator. I was enjoying learning the systems and had hoped to do the next playthrough on balanced. Now, one is waaaay too easy and the other is still too much of a skill leap up.
Lame and kind of ruined a lot of the fun I was having-- I either have to pick from "way too easy/my 10 year old could grasp this" or balanced, which I still struggle too much with to be having fun.
