PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give us a new visual to LB. Can’t take another 2 years of the thin noodle. Something along the lines of the Chain Lightning animation would be excellent.
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Why do people not like an actual lightning bolt as the graphic for lightning bolt? I think it looks good, but I think i’m in the minority.
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I just find it too thin and too faded. Does not look strong at all, feels weird to get 50k+ crits with it. Chain Lightning on the other hand is a lightning bolt spell with a lightning bolt graphic effect that feels powerful.
Lightning bolt feels unfinished, I mean, it looks like some proc I would get from a vanilla trinket from a quest in some forgotten map, not at all like the iconic spell of one of the most iconic classes in WoW lore…
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The best way I can put it is that chain lightning feels like “KAPOWWWWW”
…and lightning bolt feels like “bzzt”
Hope that makes sense 
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its almost like Lightning bolt is one lightning bolt and chain lightning is multiple. I dunno I don’t think the animation is the problem here guys, I think we need to name them to One Lightning Bolt and Three Lightning Bolts. I really think that would help.
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It really does not even look 3D.
It looks like a 2D cartoon drawing of a lighting bolt.
There are so many great looking lighting animations in the game they could use instead. NPC’s have better animations for lightning spells. Monks’ lightning is better too.
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I can see your points, I guess I Just like it anyway. It’s supposed to be a “generator”/filler spell, so I never expected it to be too flashy. That being said, Chain Lightning turned into an AoE filler itself and it’s fairly flashy, so it’s just a matter of whether the coin drops for the Lord or Lady at the Blizz office.
Honestly I’m just glad it isn’t a blue/white, slow-moving ball anymore.
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It looked like this before it got “upgraded”
https://i.redd.it/hai9zcbetn531.jpg
That looks way better than what we have now: https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/screenshots/normal/648528-lightning-bolt-legion-lightning-bolt.jpg
Here is a thread showing off some darkshore NPC lightning animations too: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/shaman-lightning-bolt-animation/142597
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You know, I was fully expecting to eat my words, but surprisingly I stand by my opinion: Legion lightning bolt is my favorite. The ball looks like a half-lightning half-frost comet, and the graphic from the Tauren NPC is more like a lightning storm than a lightning bolt. It looks cool, but as a spamming filler? Seems excessive to me.
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To each their own then!
I wouldn’t mind if the graphic was less flashy as a filler, but this honestly looks like an image out of a side scrolling platform game to me. The 2D plane is actually what bothers me the most about it.
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Ok, first I just wanna say the original spell look was so ugly. It was good 10 years ago.
Now the second spell you linked is just someone taking the worst still frame of a spell they could take to feed their narrative. I’m not saying it is your screenshot, but a picture of a still frame for a lightning spell? If you turn your camera sideways or to that angle, in the second screenshot, you can make the spell look flat. (why? I dunno, probably a resource thing). but you can. The spell wavies as it comes out like lightning. Nice charge up in the hands and the impact on the target is also nice and it even for a slight second has the aftershock on the target as it fades. The spell wavies like lightning which is impossible to tell from that picture.
I literally just stood there casting it to see, why did I have to do that. Because it is a filler rotation spell that we mindless hit when there is nothing to hit.
BUT you are right, it does come off a bit flat if I angle my camera in a god awful way I would never play with it at.
This class has real problems. Let’s address them rather then the guy who plays this game as a 2D Platformer.
Gotta say you changed my mind a bit, flashy bolts would be a bit excessive to cast every filler spell. Still think you could add some particle effects to it just so it doesn’t look like a line drawn with paint. Maybe they could add a bigger flashier effect for Stormkeeper (and now Maelstrom Weapon) empowered LBs since they do hit hard and are the “wow” moment of the spell.
I didn’t like the Dark Shore shaman lightning animations. It was more akin to the animation that should be used for “Forked Lightning” than Lightning Bolt, which for players who played WC3 may recognize from the Naga Hero. And there are still major issues with that animation which makes it less than desirable for players.
The major issue that I had with the old lightning bolt is that it needed to change to accomodate it’s most modern incarnation.
This means you have to capture in a moment, at a glance:
- Time
- Vector
- Quantity
- Clarity
The removal of travel time for the spell, one of it’s key advantages over other ranged spells. The visual matches the spell and it’s distinct enough that when one, two, or three bolts are cast at the same time, I can visually comprehend that yeah it’d Overloaded multiple times in that moment.
The screenshots are also a bit misleading as they don’t capture the very brief vector of the bolt which still exists, showing direction of the bolt very quickly. You don’t just see that it connects but the animation still shows you where it came from.
I think of the many options that have been presented, particularly from the Legion PTR visual revamp, the current lightning bolt doesn’t get lost in the visual mix as much as others in a raid setting either.
I will say that the sound and the immediacy of current animation is better though.
I just found a video of a 7.3 PTR lightning animation that is much nicer: https://youtu.be/P7lC83PbukY?t=222
I remember being really excited about these ones, but they never made it into the game 
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That animation is awesome, but I think I’d only like it for an overloaded lightning bolt. Imagine having a Storm Ele out, you have your stacks, and that’s the animation triggering every like .3 or .5 seconds. It’d be an amazing laser light show the first time, but after a while it might be like “Alright enough already with this ridiculous beam”.
Then again, I’m all about overkill, so I’d probably love it forever.
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They already have the code for the ability. Its not hard to add this. I would also like a new LB animation, finally.
Yes and it was even on the PTR in 7.3. So close!
Thankfully, Richter was able to post this on the alpha class forums: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/feedback-shaman-class-changes/490695/45?u=graendoll-emerald-dream
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At the very least I would like to see some illumination around the bolt itself with some lighting effect around the environment with it, I think that would go a long way in making it look more powerful.
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I mean honestly if you look at other caster filler spells, they are more flashy, more detailed, have better casting animations etc. Fireball is flashy and beautiful. lunar strike? Stunning! Incinerate? Shadow bolt? All of these fillers look STRIKING in comparison. The visuals for this spell are boring, non impactful, and feel weak. I think that a good start to a better spell would be to add an animation of the shaman pulling lightning from the sky, and maybe we could get a “thunderstorm brewing” sound. Maybe glowing eyes as you are charging it, and then a quick, non flashy, 3D, lightning bolt. No 2d drawings and no little zap noises. The spell doesn’t need to cause the world to light up, or make people turn their heads, but for being only one of five spells you cast often, it should feel impactful (whether it’s filler or not). If they can make lava burst feel like I’m pulling rock out of the ground, I’m sure this isn’t out of reach.
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On the bright side at least it looks better than Frostbolt! The new animation for frostbolt is super boring! It used to be a bright cool blue with a satisfying sound effect when casting. Instead its now all white misty and the sound of someone blowing in your ear. So i see that as an absolute win c: