So... likely far too late in the day for this, but it's one of those things that's been rattling around in the old noggin since the update announcements...

Why pile house rules on top of house rules as far as meta-magics goes?

If the intent was to lower the baseline aoes and promote additional spells cast, why wasn't maximize simply reverted to the srd standard of removing variation in rolls for spells that have them (which has the net effect of bringing current damage levels to exactly the average damage dealt now constantly, barring the crit and boost enhancements) while keeping extend, then lowering single-target costs appropriately?

It seems that would have promoted aoes as low-level baseline, with spikes as needed via other spells just as well without all the contortions...

/casts Fire Shield