Maybe I just talk to the wrong people, but I can't seem to escape conversations about why such and such a skill was downgraded but that obviously overpowered one over there wasn't...maybe a discussion about the process in general would help.

Only the Administration can shed light on their own thoughts, but it seems rather straight forward to me:

The priority to balancing a skill is given to those skills creating the most imbalance within the game.

Please note that this is not necessarily the most imbalanced skill. It is the one that creates the most imbalance to the greatest number of people at that time.

I was, frankly, pissed when Contagion was downgraded. I could and can think of several skills (and skillsets!) that strike me as completely imbalanced and far more deserving of Divine attention. In fact, when what I see as my better than average skill is downgraded before someone elses outrageously fabulous skill...I feel a bit singled out, and it's not pleasant.

But, that avoids the point. It's not the most imbalanced skill, it's the one creating the most imbalance at the time. Any doubts I had that the Admins had lost their objectivity were seriously checked by how quickly wisping people from out of area was dealt with.

There are still skills out there that bleeding need to be dealt with, but if that's the only thing focused on, that's the only thing that will be accomplished. I'd much rather see expansion in other areas of the game and have abuse dealt with as it occurs, with maybe just a dash of preemption here and there in extreme cases.

It's easier to spend a few minutes or hours fixing something that's broken than it is to spend countless days pondering when and where those breaks might occur and then more time trying to address them. That sort of thing has its place during pre-release, when the whole point is to get as much of your balance as you can before making that first step out into the open. Once you're out on the tightrope, better to correct your balance as you lose it, I say.

I would add that envoys are encouraged to submit thoughts on imbalances. Indeed, I think an envoy once reported that some skill of his own was too powerful! But envoys should feel free to comment on skills they go against. (Though if it sounds like whining rather than objective criticism then the envoy may find himself soon out of a job...)

Also, if you dig around the forums, it is common that when a whine about a downgrade is submitted that someone (usually me) dishes out the exact reasoning for it. We prefer to have more transparency do help assay feelings of random whim from on high, as sometimes happens in other places when changes are made without explanation.

And I would also add to the above very valid comments that something may seem overpowered to players but doesn't seem that way to us because we aren't getting feedback on it, which is why I commented about the envoys. That probably expains most conversations centering around why such-n-such was downgraded but the other thing wasn't; the gods probably don't even know that the other thing is a problem or don't understand the degree to which it is a problem.