By nerfing the cancelled energy it balances the problem it's design had as a whole. You cast it on 1-2 people, save upwards of TWENTY percent of it by cancelling it (which requires little to no commitment), gain 5% super energy per trace that drops PER kill and then ALSO run geomags to cut off an extra 15%. That minimal commitment for maximum reward is why people comfortably just spam it at a target, because even if they fail, they still get to keep 20% of what it cost to cast. The neutral game is designed for ability regen and pulse wave is a lot more valuable than people give it credit for. That burst in speed can cause you to strafe shots, jump that little extra bit height to evade a shotgun shot or the reload coming in clutch. Maybe it's a little hard to take advantage of it due to the health threshold it procs at, but it has it's uses. The charged melee DOES suck but lag is what makes it so much worse than it actually is.