My main concern lies with higher level spells. They are a much more limited resource even at high levels and should feel meaningful in the situation they are meant for. ...
I also do not want it to turn into whatever the Pathfinder games made us do before every battle. The difficulty was crisp and it was sometimes necessary to use all resources available to beat a difficult set of enemies. ...
Limiting disabling spells like these therefore makes it so much easier to ramp up the difficulty. ...
I obviously did not have the chance to playtest higher level fights, but I fear that with that rip, magic almost literally loses its magic. Martial classes are already looking to be overall superior to spell casters just because they deal more damage. ...
The game being too easy in the EA mostly comes down to number tweaking and is a completely different issue. ...
I think we ought to separate whether we're talking about buffs or enemy-targeting spells in this conversation AND recognise that D&D has a bad history with buff spells - which you've experienced in PF (3E's successor).
(3E TT and 2E BG2, especially ToB, suffered from buffs badly. To briefly summarise, 3E TT required a spreadsheet by around 9th level and BG2-ToB a spells cast in order list. Basically, play became work, and power level between normal and buffed characters was enormous.)
I'm all for enemy-targeting spells to have individual targeting, regardless of level. There's real tactical choice here and it's not repetitive. I never cast Bane because it's random and unreliable, although I recognise it synergises with subsequent AoE spells.
For Aid, I like this buff because it doesn't need to be timed - it lasts all day. The extra HPs balances well with the cost of slot spent, and this works when you upcast too. That it affects a 4th character + familiars/companions is basically irrelevant; I'm still not putting Gale in the frontline and something more than a strong breeze will still wipe the familiar. If beastmaster rangers benefit a bit extra? Good for them, it's a niche case.
Bless is different to Aid in that it has a offensive and defensive component, and it scales! A level 10 fighter can get good mileage from the spell too. I recognise the arguments around this spell and... I wouldn't call it a difficulty option but maybe an 'Area centre' or 'Individual target' toggle?
I don't want Larian to require buffing before battles either. And to their credit, they don't. 5E has a lot of slack built into the system. Play test characters were non-optimized and magic item bonuses were not assumed. If you play PHB only and pick efficient choices, you realize around level 12 you're well ahead of the curve and could've picked flavour over crunch.
Personally, I'm not going to choose a higher than normal difficulty. I find the party dynamics and questlines both engaging and dynamic as is and am not interested in numbers-bloat. Not reloading is challenge enough.
