Blizzard released today that some spells, including those we have already seen, will be going under renovation with new effects:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Some awesome new spell effects coming out of the tech art team including an updated Acid Cloud (witch doctor) and Magic Missile (wizard).
This makes one wonder what prompted such things to be changed. Could it be that Magic Missile's purple color was decidedly off-putting for a Diablo game? Could Acid Cloud's breadth have been too saturated with green ooze? Do these things call for change, or are they fine how they are?
What skills look amazing already, and which ones could use improving? Personally, I believe the Witch Doctor's Plague of Toads skill looks completely awesome- who doesn't love biohazardous amphibians bouncing about the screen (see The Witch Doctor's Plague of Toads lame? Hardly.)? In addition, so far I'm loving the Wizard's Slow Time spell, with its big, flashy bubble.
Do you have any suggestions for better skill effects? Are any of them too flashy or boring? Do any of them seem to out-pace the "Diablo feel", as many fans call it? Could it be in response to some of the more flamboyant skills that Blizzard could be tuning them down, or is this only a tune-up?
Spectral Blade
I really think something ought to be done to give it more depth. It currently looks less like the slashes are penetrating the enemies and more like they're being projected on the ground or floor, to me.
Magic Missile
I like when 'raw magic' is purple. It always seems a poetic pairing: magic doesn't exist, and neither does purple. I also like the plasma-like behavior of Magic Missile. Like tiny coronal mass ejections.
What I don't like about Magic Missile is how it sounds. It sounds like a large spring launching water balloons or something. It gives the impression that these projectiles are liquid, even gooey, and I doubt that is the intention....
Wave of Force
If only it was a distortion effect without the cyan glow?or just a fainter one, anyway.
Disintegrate
It looks and sounds very technological, so perfectly straight with that high-frequency whine?a time-honored sci-fi representation of death-rays of all kinds.
Without changing the beam mechanic of it, perhaps if the core of the beam were transparent, it may seem stranger. Alternatively, Diablo's Red Lightning Hose from Diablo II comes to mind.
Whatever the case, I think changing the sound is most important. Anything that sounds less like a dental drill, yes?
Slow Time
I think it would come across better if it wobbled and flexed a bit, or if a faint 'smokey tendril' effect moved around inside it?some kind of chaotic element to disturb its uniformity.
Arcane Torrent
Yanking rocks out of space to come crashing down on one's enemies seems really out of place amidst all the other spells in the Arcane tree, doesn't it? There has to be a better way to visualize a high-tier targeted AE that's more congruent with what seems to be the concept of this tree.
Electrocute
The arcs look a hell of a lot more powerful than they sound. Anyone ever heard an arc like that? Serious business.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GiIVze2Tac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cbP2_AMN7U
Horrify
Surely this could be done in a more in-world way than a hologram going 'oogly-boogly' over the caster's head.
Locust Swarm
What is with the bright green glowing and the brighter green flashes? Locusts are huge insects. You can't miss them in reality, and I'm sure in Sanctuary they're bigger and meaner. They really don't need to be incandescent, do they?
Plague of Toads
Explosive acid-blooded toads. Oll korrect.
Not scarabs, not venomous snakes, not even starving maggots, but toads? Which explode. Acid blood. Glowing acid.
I don't want to be one of the people who can't let this one go, but it's hard. I know there are plenty of myths about how evil toads are, but....
Firebats
Also crazy, but I just love the homage to the poor, forgotten StarCraft unit that didn't make it into StarCraft II, so I guess it's an awesome sort of crazy.
Acid Cloud
Obviously the acid which the toads are filled with. May also be the 'plasma' of Fallout 3.