There's a couple facts that the devs know that give me comfort on this and all related "nerf" issues:
1) Many people build strong opinions based on mis-perceptions that they think are facts
2) Those same people tend to be very whiney
3) To seek an outlet for their whining, those people disproportionately come to the boards
4) The devs gather a lot of data in the game
5) The devs know reality a lot better than the mis-perceiving whiners
So here's what I think the devs will conclude with regard to this AOE issue:
1) A lot of character types are able to solo group content a lot better than intended
2) Fire tanks, spines scrappers and fire and illusion controllers are the biggest offenders, post 30 and post issue 2. (Fire and AR blasters are still there, but dying in mass quantities now in post 30 encounters)
3) The problem has very a little to do with character balance, but much more to do with group content design
4) Group encounters need to be harder for everyone
5) The easiest way to get there is increase number of bosses and LT's in group encounters
6) LT's need to be a bit tougher
And the result will make life harder for AOE blasters because they can no longer solo group content. And then the cries will again go out against fire tanks, invuln and regen scrappers, and fire and illusion controllers. And with those I fear the problems will end up being nerfs. I don't really want to see it, but the fact is all those classes have incredible damage mitigation and damage output. (At least for the AOE enabled scrapper types.) That was just addressed in a significant way with devices blasters. (As a devices blaster I think it was long overdue.)
Anyway, I have a bit of faith in the devs, a complete lack of faith in the objectivity of the whiners, and a great appreciation of irony. And what promises to be ironic is that the solution to the complaints will probably come back and hurt the complainers. Group content will get harder, group based rewards will be increased to compensate, and they'll cry that the game is too hard while the people that embrace the MM part of MMORPG will reap the benefits. (That's us powergamers, by the way. We want things really hard for everyone so that we can establish to ourselves and to everyone else that we are better, smarter or at least more willing to grind than the masses.)
