People need to stop riding the roller coaster when it comes to nerfs and buffs. Keep in mind that the AoE damage falloff was applied to most AoEs across the board and is therefore not JUST a SMN nerf. The Bane damage nerf is also mitigated by the 15% chance to reset the DoT timers, so that should count for something. Basically, they couldn't give SMN everything not take something away in return.