If PoE was the kind of game where managing resting actually mattered rather than a game where resting is just an inconvenience (See:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...illars-of-eternity.98676/page-98#post-3929890) then I'd say that having an OP Cipher would be pretty much game-breaking and make a fundamental game mechanic irrelevant. But PoE is not a game where resting matters, it's a game where one party resting more than another party just means more inconveniences and time wasting. So since resting is broken in PoE Ciphers aren't game-breaking in PoE, it's just Ciphers being OP and meaning you are less inconvenienced by resting. So whatever.
I disagree with one of your arguments. Specifically the one about always having an option to go back to the Inn/Wilds and resting.
True, in the end Pillars is not that different from the Infinity Engine games. There's no definite Failure State for players who decide to blow their resources recklessly. Should they ever feel cornered, players most always have the option to rest in the IE games, or retreating in PoE. However, therein lies the difference.
Provided that the game's parts work in concert towards an useful goal, that is, that Encounter Design, Class Design and Difficulty Mode all make it clear that resources
should be spent wisely - will the player do so in both kinds of games? In other words:
Does anyone actually play PoE planning to progress through half a dungeon and then having to go back 3 maps in order to rest in town/wilds? Of course not.
Did most people who played Baldur's Gate use resting as a crutch? Most likely.
Therefore, what the system tries to do is
nudge the player into more frugal resource management, instead of leaving it to personal liberty. Now, I'm not saying either approach is more valid, what I'm trying to do is point out that the real problem with PoE, if any, lies elsewhere. It is precisely what you dismissed, the Cipher (amongst other things) and the difficulty mode you played in. To that I'd add what so many others have complained about, trashy Encounter design.