It hasn't been phased out, but the number of times it is an issue as decreased. Belldandy has been on earth for a while, so she's gotten more used to the power restriction and so forth (it has been established that she doesn't need a seal in Heaven). The more she uses her powers on earth, the more efficient she becomes with them.
To use a real world example, when you start a new job, most tasks take a lot of effort. In time, as you learn more and more about the job and how things work, the same tasks take less and less effort. Eventually, things that would take you a lot of time and effort to do become simple, quick fixes. My guess would be that Belldandy's use of her powers is the same.
Larry
10-Mar-2005