Well, if it's boosted out of range, it means the opponent used more than 1 card on it already, so add up the provisions. And if they did boost it in R1, it means it's an engine, and if it's boosted above 6 already, by removing it you're getting back about 12-20 points of value depending on the length of the round, so definitely NOT waste.
And yeah, sometimes it's a mistake, other times it's bait. It doesn't matter. If I have to bait your Vincent out early by sacrificing 20 points, it doesn't mean the card is "balanced," even if I manage to win the game. Once again, just because it's not auto-win doesn't mean it's well-balanced.
That is exactly why you don't boost veil units if you can help it vs NG specifically. Investing into a combo you know Vincent is going to counter is kind of like saying "Hmmm it's -30c outside...what happens if I lick this metal pole?"
Well, yeah, something bad will happen lol.
Sometimes you've just no choice and those games suck, just as much as it sucks to accidentally tutor out Vincent turn 1 with Joachim and not have any targets but a spy you'd rather use Coup on. Murphy's law and due to human nature, we'll remember those times when things went so wrong over the many where things went right.
I know the 20 points is hyperbole but if you have to invest that much to bait out Vincent, that might be a deck building issue, not a balance issue.
Bleeding players of high value resources is totally normal. Last game, I had to bleed a NR player until they used Draug prematurely to win R2 - and I had to do it by sacrificing one of my 2 finisher plays for R3 (double ball). I hated doing it but it's that or quit.
Does this mean Draug is op? Probably not. What it means is Draug is a strong af card and needs to be respected as such.
That's the theme I see that's common here, people are complaining instead of looking for solutions. They're looking for easy solutions to a problem that requires planning, they have no respect for the thought process of defeating Vincent, they just want him gone.
And in this case, the solution is simple; vsing NG? Don't dump lots of boosts into a status effected unit. It's probably going to die. Be it Vincent, Yennefer's, Igni, etc. Or hell, they could be smart like I am and run Artefact Compression since the reset doesn't need the lock to go through, making it fantastic for resetting veiled units.