Spells are absolutely gorgeous in GW2 because of the small details likes particles and distortions. Alone these effects are bearable and definitely add to the experience, but when the effects are stacked on top of one another they can completely obsure the action. This obviously damages the experience in large parties and crowded events. In WvW, for example, it’s not uncommon for battles to turn into an exercise of trying to pick out nametags in the blinding fields of light.
My suggestion to you, ANet, is to allow players to turn off the as particles and distortions of spells. It may also help if players were able to adjust the gamma of their spell effects as well since they’re often brighter than the environments themselves.