Quote Originally Posted by sirgog View Post
Nope, Maximize still has its place.

Need high damage per mana? Turn the metas off.

Need high damage per second? Turn the metas on.

Also, don't forget that there are enhancements available (albeit expensive ones) that dramatically improve the SP efficiency of Maximize Spell, as well as items. You may not be able to fit Tier 3 Improved Maximizing into your build, but Tier 2 and Gloves of the Glacier drop the cost of Maximize down to 15SP (IIRC), and 12 if you can cough up all the AP for Tier 3.

Similar enhancements are available for Empower as well, but aren't very good value for AP, IIRC, except for the first tier.
Might be rough fitting those enhancements in, though. Iirc, it will cost more AP to get in your damage enhancements after the update.