"so we know exactly what we will fight and where we need to go."
I am not saying that there aren't things that could be improved with the AI, or that there aren't things that could be balanced better. But this statement alone accounts for a lot of the complaints in my view.
There's a ton to be said about knowing what the proper critical path is, what is coming, what resources to use and what skills fit best. Even what gear to select. If you know that a given fight is easier if you are X level, or if you have Karlach in your party instead of Lae'zel. Or that certain potions are only useful in certain situations so you don't make too many of any one type. All of these things add up to making the game easier.
I would argue that familiarity with the game is potentially more powerful than optimization. But to give credit where credit is due, if there are exploits where someone can abuse abilities such that a player can regularly do hundreds of points of damage a round, that needs to be addressed as well. But again, this is hardly unheard of. BG1 and 2 had their exploits as well. Heck, if you played a Sorcerer summoner in either game on the hardest difficulty, it was actually easier (if you knew what you were doing) than standard mode.
I think that the Devs should put some effort into improving some of the grosser balance issues. But I also think that there is a certain amount of hyperbolic behavior from the community on the topic. But that's simply my opinion.
