They must have changed it along the courses then because I played older versions and it works as I mentioned. Guess that metamagic is completely useless then. Cantrips suck.
But I get your concerns. 4 round time stop plus quicken spell plus delayed blast fireball in one of my old tabletop sessions was 1200 damage upfront lol.
Still. Makes the metamagic useless when I can just twin spell the fireball for the same effect.