do we not have tier spells in a manner already?
i mean, thunder > thundara > thundaga is just Thunder 1 > 2 > 3.
same goes for the cure spells cure and cura, only curaga is the actual AoE spell in this case.

what i'd rather like to see is AoE magic make a come back actually.
at some point i'd like to use elemental weakness to kill my enemies quicker, and not actually hit the other 5 mobs standing around just because SE had the brilliant idea of making Fire magic AoE only.