"Brand of x" abilities changed since 1.20?

[CanteJondo]

I've been skilling up on shark oil on alch r31-33 with brand of lightning since patch.

I must have popped brand of lightning dozens of times then waited for 3 turns to try clear up the instability and not once has it worked.

Granted the recipe is quite high for my level giving me 700-800 exp a pop but I can't help but feel that they've nerfed the brand abilities a bit... better start stacking up on control!

Anyone else experiencing this?

edit: I've also had the lightning insta explode when brand of lightning was active, and I've had an instability start up when brand was active beforehand.