Why did the lasers animation change to the plasma discharge animation?

[s0nny80y]

I armed my starting fleet only with lasers and the animation for the weapon displays a plasma like discharge.

If I recall correctly the laser animation looked like a beam emitting from the source ships.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I've noticed a discrepancy between the various weapon blasts as well. It seems like the lasers and cannon beams look different depending on Purity/Harmony/Supremacy. And that some don't look correct to the context of the weapon.