Do the glowing pillars in The Storm Halls do anything?
Solution 1:
They'll continue to animate as long as you switch between the two targets; there are usually two of them near each other. When you hit one, it will animate but won't animate again until the other is hit. Besides that, I personally have not found any other use for them and I also have not heard any other use from anybody else.
Solution 2:
The pillars just appear to be aesthetic with no real function. There seems to be no direct method of interacting with them but as you mention at times when you fire towards them they animate.