herbert seifert's page

there is the feat that lets you change the damage type ie from fire to lighting

if you run classed npc vs. monsters I see where fireball stands out more.
another thing to think about is where most of your combats take place, while I dont think fireball's spell description said anything about setting things on fire most of the player I play with use the logic (kind of a house rule) if you use fireball inside of a building or in towns chances are you are going to set the building you are in on fire or the town so they tend to stay away from fireball unless they have too.

while it seem that fireball is better than lighting bolt there are some things to look at before you use it
one: the room size if you are in is 20' x 20' the fire ball will roast everyone in the room including friends.
two: what are you using the fireball agaist. if you are going up agaist a red dragon and his new friends of demons or devils that massive damage dealing fireball just turned in to a pea shooter. there are more monster that resist fire that lighting