Truth is always somewhere in the middle. However, it is in the players' hands on what and who will bring something.
I mean, even if we balanced everything out, there is always other factor: skill. If we made a battle between veteran and newbie player, both bearing same stuff and same equipment, the battle is already won by veteran player and no balance will help unskilled player. Maybe some luck or minor lag spike. Same for "balanced" 2 vs 2, which actually may be felt like 5 vs 2 combat in extreme cases.
TL;DR we can't expect balanced fights if skilled player is clashing the beginners.