Do people believe Zed is balanced?

You know what opinion I have? It's the definition of insanity. Ever single midlaner I see takes ignite into lane, die to Zed, and complain about he's OP.

You know how ignite is useful? It's great for securing a kill when you just don't have enough damage. Snowballing. That's it.

When you play against a champion you can't/don't want to just snowball against, but actually have a meaningful, impactful laning phase no matter how far behind/ahead you are (ignite won't save you in a gank), then maybe... they should take exhaust.

I haven't seen one midlaner take exhaust. Ever. That spell cuts damage, speed, and defenses. A ten defense, 40% damage, and attack/movement speed 30% reduction is huge. And if Zed takes both his damage abilities instead of his shadow at level 2, you could trade, pop that exhaust, and either kill him or force him to recall.

Boom bada bing, a won lane.

And don't even get me started on its teamfight utility. If the support exhausts one carry, and the midlaner exhausts the other carry, there goes the enemy's main source of damage for nearly three seconds. Just do a full engage, pop what you can (like I said, reduced damage, speed, and defenses mean a retreating team means the carries get left behind), and watch the chaos unfold. Ignite can kill someone, but exhaust will protect your team as well as sign their death contract.

But no. I keep seeing people complain about "omg he can rush damage but I have to itemize against him?" and just facepalm. That's what everyone has to do. Yes, you need some core items, but some items are too useful to pass up. I'll build Frozen Heart on Morgana if I need to. I'll build thornmail on Sejuani instead of randuin's omen if I need to gank a lane with a fed Vayne. Midlaners act like they have to do the same exact build in 100% of their games, that they need to take ignite for "muh kill pressure," and completely ignore the fact that everyone else does it too. Notice how Zeds tend to build hexdrinker against mages? They wouldn't do that against AD-only teams.

and that's my opinion. Not fact, but opinion.

I honestly think Zed is balanced. He's just strong in the current meta, which was forged by gutting mana regen. I remember a few months back when Exhaust was a little bit stronger and Zed was considered very weak. His performance seems to be dependent on the tools his opponents have, which is quite healthy in terms of depth and counterplay. It just so happens that some of these tools have gotten weaker (Mana regen and Exhaust).

He is a good Assassin, because he doesn't "Die or Pentakill" like others.

His only problem I see is his free disengage, it makes him too save.

He does have counterplay, but only in the sense that you can stop him from killing you, but you can't capitalize on mistakes to retaliate yourself.