Do you remember how Stukov only had 3 level 20 talents (1 normal and 2 ult upgrades, meaning he could only choose from 2) before his rework, and how all of them were utter garbage?
Forget misclicks, he may as well have not had a level 20 talent tier at all even if you did pick the intended talent.
My point is that in the vast majority of situations, fewer is not better.
Imagine we remove talents from Anub’arak’s level 20 tier. If we remove one of the 3 “bad talents,” the situation stays the same, as he will still only have 1 good talent. But if we remove the 1 “good talent,” his entire level 20 tier becomes lukewarm garbage. The only possible outcomes of removing talents is that things stay the same or get worse.
On the other hand, more is very often better. It gives more flexibility to the player so they can adapt. And even if half of the talents are still trash, half of 4 is more than half of 3, meaning you’ll have more decent talents if you have more talents overall. The only possible outcome of adding more talents is that things stay the same or get better.
This calculus only changes when you start factoring in balance changes to the remaining talents, but even that does not necessitate a reduction of talent choices, as you could replace old talent slots with new ones.
For example, one of the things I like about Zul’jin is his adaptability and ability to build and play around his teammates and the enemy team.
However, that adaptability does not extend to his level 20 tier, as sometimes you just won’t get good value out of any of those talents if the enemy team isn’t playing aggressive enough. In that kind of situation, I would love to have a more aggressive talent to allow me to take the fight to them.
I don’t feel that the changes I made would push him too far in any direction, to be honest.
Reactive Parry’s buff is pretty substantial, sure, but it also involves giving up the incredibly strong offensive options.
Zealotry is technically a nerf compared to Seasoned Marskman - the damage only applies to Twin Blades instead of all Basic Attacks, Zealotry has a cap whereas Seasoned Marksman does not, and grants charge range instead of the incredibly flexible and powerful Attack Speed boost.
Psionic Synergy’s change can be troublesome, you’re right - but not without going all-in on a Phase Prism duelist build, something that can be easily disrupted.
Shield Battery’s buff is barely there, but that’s really all it needed. Shield Surge is still the best general-purpose talent at that tier by a wide margin - this change only makes it slightly better in its given niche.
Solarite Reaper’s buff is a moderate one. It’s a strong utility increase and helps out Artanis’s waveclear, but I don’t see it providing the major offensive or defensive strength you seem to be worried about.
Titan Killer I’m honestly not sure about. I have my doubts that it’s as strong as people say it is, but I’m also not really willing to leave it as is.
Plasma Burn is something I can live with being very strong. I mean, it’s a Level 20 Talent - they’re supposed to be.
If you could explain in a bit more detail which reworked Talents you think would be too strong, that would be very helpful.
I’m afraid I don’t see how making his lesser-picked talents better would disrupt this.
That’s basically what Plasma Burn currently does, though.