To paraphrase, the patch notes say AoEs will once again have similar damage to single target abilities instead of doing 33% less damage, but cost more. And get an added duration.
All of the AoE descriptions for specific skills mention a decrease in damage per tick. The AoEs in update 23 do 33% less damage than previous. The description for Lightning Splash for example says damage per tick does 33% less and duration increased to 10 seconds from 8 seconds.
How does this yield pre-update 23 damage? It does 33% less damage before, does another 33% less damage now with 2 extra ticks, and it's supposed to be similar to single target abilities just with a higher cost? The numbers aren't working for me.