In GNOME 3.8. there is a new setting called 'enable-animations' under org.gnome.desktop.interface which is supposed to disable mutter animations in the Shell when set to 'false'. This does work temporarily, however when user logs out and then logs back in to the Shell, the 'enable-animations' boolean is reset to the default value of 'true' and does not respect the fact that in the previous session, the user set it to false. 

Steps to reproduce in gsettings:

1. $ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface enable-animations false  
2. Log out/back in or reboot 
3. Try 'hot corner' (animations are enabled again)

Steps to reproduce in dconf-editor: 

1. Open dconf-editor
2. Navigate to org.gnome.desktop.interface
3. Change 'enable-animations' to false/uncheck the box
4. Log out/log in
5. Try hot corner (animations are enabled again)

Other settings persist as they should, it is just this one setting that does not survive logout/reboot.

OS: Arch Linux x86_64
GPU: NVidia GTX 550Ti  

lspci: 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-V (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev d4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #8 (rev d4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z87 Express LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF116 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1062 Serial ATA Controller (rev 01)
04:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1062 Serial ATA Controller (rev 01)

If there is anything else I can do to help fix this, please just let me know. 
Thanks!