Targeted AoEs in this game include things like Rain of Fire, Tar Patch, and Ball Lightning. Each of these spawns away from the player at a targeted location.
Cones are player based, meaning their origination is from the payer first, and the target selects the direction of the cone. Certain PBAOEs do, however cover the entire 360* of the player.
I personally find the IO options for PBAOE much better than targetted AoE.
I like PBAOE much better for my tanks, ty 
I suspect Brutes feel the same.
2,25 HP and 10% regen in 6 slots is nice.
@Viper Kinji
Currently working on:
Turtle Snapper - SD/MA/Ice Tanker
While trying to figure out what sets I wanted to slot in my War Mace Brute recently, I noticed that Shatter (a cone power) and Crowd Control (another cone power) both say that they accept "PBAoE Damage" sets. Is this a known issue? Shouldn't they accept "Targeted AoE" sets since you need a target to activate them?