All people had was baby skills leveled. I also feel that's why Blackwater Blade is a better PVP experience.
Maybe the answer is to just take AOE skills out of Cyro entirely.
Lag is ruinin' my 'mershun! A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance - Socrates Member of the Old Guard, keepers of the game's history