Thought i'd throw my vote in too. From what I've seen, most people that complain about AoE attacks being overpowered are watching low level blasters solo +-2 level minion groups. Even post 32 in brickstown theres minion only groups that exist up to L38.
The game takes a complete U-Turn after L40. AoE is still needed and at its current damage level, it cant be overpowered when a group of 8 with 4 AoE blasters has problems taking down +3 groups (the only way to get good xp gain) when they take turns popping off their most lethal attacks. 40+ level groups way more often than not, contain one or multiple bosses that easily one shot any blaster and AoE attacks, including nova/inferno barely scratch them. Going in with AoE attacks is always extremely dangerous due to all the aggro it attracts. Its not uncommon for 1 or more person to get wasted by a Fake Nemesis once every 10 minutes. Its all risk vs. reward.
If AoE damage is changed, the last 10 levels of play in this game grouping are going to be horrible. Large groups will be useless because of the drastically reduced xp gain and it will take too much to defeat the groups required to make it worthwile for all hero group members. If an AoE blaster cant contribute AoE damage, then he's just a really weak blaster that attracts a lot of attention for nothing. So 1/2 the blasters out there are left holding useless characters.
Then the next step is the single target guys will be king and they will get on the chopping block for being too powerful. You nerf AoE blasters, whats the point to having one and not just rolling up a scrapper? They have smaller scale AoE's or multi target attacks that do great damage without the consequence of having a paper thin skin.
AoE blasters are not solo kings in higher levels and very much require a group to continue on. It really makes no difference to me what they decide to do because they have to keep the game playable. I have 7 characters after deleting countless others trying to decide what I like, only 1 is an AoE blaster. As long as they dont break the game or cause problems that affect all of my characters that make it no longer any fun for me to play then I'll be fine with whatever they do.
I just hope they look at adding to content and to the game as well as improve weak AT powers before cutting existing things out that some people enjoy. There is a balance out there and the people crying about AoE's are upset with their character in some way that makes them envious. Wouldnt we all be better served if suggestions to fix those AT's or powers were posted instead of the same ole, this and that does too much damage? Its old hat and already been beat to death 100's of times on this forum.
