heh? Then why do the current 3D ones look so...lame compared to these?
Perfect circle = boring.
What...?
The difference between 2D and 3D shockwaves is that 2D shockwave is simply a texture that is rendered on a plane that is always facing towards the viewpoint, whereas 3D shockwaves use a model (shockwave.pof) and the texture is rendered on the model's surface.
The best case scenario is that the 3D model is facing the viewpoint. In this case, the 3D shockwave has some qualitative edge over the 2D shockwave. The problem is that in the worst case scenario the 3D model is sideways to the viewpoint, which makes it look slightly silly, while the 2D shockwave looks the same from all directions.
Realistically (lol@context) shockwave in space would be a sphere, which means it would looks like a circle from all directions. I voted 2D because of two reasons:
1. I personally like the effect better
2. It's at the moment easier to change from 2D to 3D than from 3D to 2D. If the model file is in the VP's by default, it would need to be removed by those who want to use 2D shockwaves.
If a way to activate 3D shockwaves were present in launcher, the issue would be largely nonexistant.