I've been saying (since beta) that all these translucent skills (i.e. hurricane, dragons blood, etc.) just look cheap. But it seems like Zos is set on these whack vfx so I just ask for a toggle in the options window to turn off the translucency like the saddlebags on the mounts or hide helm.
My reasons:
1. like they said, these skills look cheap and lazy as far as vfx go.
2. what's the rationalization of these skills? why can I see through my sorc? is he made up of pure energy/wind now? if that's the case the skill is far weaker than the vfx implies.
3. I want to see my gear. I, like many other players, spend a lot of time on customizing my appearance and as soon as I'm in combat I become a ghostly silhouette.
4. most of these skills have long durations and require 100% uptime to maintain the valuable buffs they give.
5. A toggle would only change what you saw and to everyone else, the skill would appear the same. For those who like the nonsensical visuals.
There's only one exception that actually makes sense to me and that is cloak and not the healing morph. the rest just look like cut and paste vfx's from cloak because you couldn't think of anything better. Cloak you actually turn invisible so it makes sense that there would be a shadowy outline for you and your allies to see. It also only lasts a few seconds.
Also, I get a bug sometimes when my hurricane doesn't make my character transparent but I still get all the other winds and glowy vfx and I got to say it looks awesome. I don't know why you don't just let the other visuals of the skill stand on their own.
The heart on dragons blood looks cool and it kinda makes sense how your flesh could become transparent but not your armor. Maybe have the transparency fade further away from your character's chest.
I'm also not a fan of the transparent summoned weapon skills (i.e. jabs, concealed-weapon, scythe). It would be cool if these skills had a texture and a higher polycount model but maybe that's asking too much. Don't want to melt the servers.
To everyone who reads this: thanks for your time
If anyone else has any thoughts on the matter I look forward to hearing them.