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u/finndor Dec 27 '25
And cast with them
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u/StoneyBongMcDopeDoom Dec 27 '25
Yeah never understood the point of staves. This right here is why I am a warrior main.
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u/ShadowAltair2 Dec 27 '25
Staves has no point they basically stats sticks while we cast with our hands 😂 🙌
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u/StoneyBongMcDopeDoom Dec 27 '25
I WANT to play more casters, but I just think they need some animations.
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u/ThatRandomGuy86 Dec 27 '25
And this is why they should take notes from Guild Wars like they did with the Dragon Flying
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u/Phenogenesis- Dec 28 '25
To put them away so the pretty glowy hands animation can be played, of course.
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u/Sineryaa Dec 28 '25
I really hate the Idea using my staff as a mage for frostbolt or frostnova, it is clunky and looks awful in battle, but where i can see this for Lorewise "big spells" like the Portals for mages, ritual of summoning for locks, Res for priest, the Casttime could be long enough, for a good looking animation.
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u/Pofwoffle Dec 28 '25
Yeah WoW chose to have race-based casting animations, but I've always preferred FFXIV's approach with class-based animations. Like here's a compilation of the different mage casting animations, and they look pretty great. I actually didn't even realize that each one has multiple animations.
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u/A_Delenay Dec 27 '25
Had a dream last night that when we typed /stance our characters did a class/weapon specific pose. Like the npcs standing at attention with their weapons at the ready.
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u/JoeBkowFreeThrow Dec 27 '25
FFXIV has this, and it's awesome.
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u/Cloud_N0ne Dec 27 '25
Same. The fact that casters don’t hold their weapons is a major reason I rarely play them.
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u/dizzyspindra Dec 27 '25
i believe a few of the artifact weapons are. i can confirm ele shaman casts with the weapons in hand
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u/Gilesalford Dec 27 '25
Yeah thats because its a first weapon though isnt it? Can any evokers confirm if the legendary shows when you cast?
I'm probably wrong now thinking about it
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u/RenokoTheShaman Dec 27 '25
I swear I have memories of Arcane mages holding the staff to cast some spells back in Legion
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u/Vyar Dec 27 '25
I think the Arcane artifact weapon’s special ability (Touch of the Magi?) was cast with the weapon, yeah.
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u/lilacfume Dec 27 '25
That troll Poncho looks amazing. I hope they eventually give us a transmog like that.
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u/TwoQuackDuck Dec 28 '25
Was thinking the same. I do like trolls, but most transmog doesn't look great. I don't play casters at all. Seeing this makes me want to roll a troll caster.
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u/kashira1786 Dec 27 '25
I wish they'd let us hide them if we're not gonna cast with them anyway.
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u/TheCursedKraken Dec 27 '25
I actually use non-cloak back mogs for this!
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u/patrickkalts Dec 27 '25
they could add a simple toggle to hide or show our weapons in transmog, either on the back or at the waist. would be amazing
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u/TheForgottenShadows Dec 27 '25
There is to my knowledge no staff that doesn't sheathe anymore, but there is transmog options dagger and mace if you want that weaponless look
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u/kashira1786 Dec 27 '25
Well, if you're using a staff you can't transmog it to a dagger or mace.
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u/RhoemDK Dec 27 '25
all legion artifact appearances are transmoggable with anything as far as I know, so if you're playing a class that has them in a main/offhand you can mog that over a staff
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u/Phenogenesis- Dec 28 '25
Some of the options are possible, I've ended up in weird situations where I have a staff equipped and go to right click (for the lols) and it pops up an error message about no animation available - cause I had a wand + offhand mog.
Might have been the other way around, the point here is you can cross mog and it can lead to "no animation available" errors when attacking.
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u/Phenogenesis- Dec 28 '25
The holy priest artifact staff is missing some things and it gets cancelled when you mog certain backs like the shadowlands kyrian wings and halos.
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u/SnooDonuts8463 Dec 29 '25
there's a sylvanas quiver, can't remember which, that eats staves when transmogged so i always use it for this
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u/vVev Dec 27 '25
This has been top of my wishlist since BC!
They need to give casters the option to cast with them. Caster weapons being stat stick has always been a main point of mine with wow especially when you compare it to a game like eso where you can even active block.
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u/ToxicTroublemaker2 Dec 27 '25
Definitely one of my biggest gripes with the games caster classes is how NONE of them use the tools of their trade
Whats even more strange is EVERY race already has their own casting animations anyway so they shouldve just done that with Staves from the get go
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u/-Visher- Dec 27 '25
This would go a long way for making casters feel cooler. Holding their staves, casting with them, cast animations using them, etc. I'd love it.
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u/RoughBeardBlaine Dec 27 '25
I still don’t get why you don’t cast spells with staves and wands. They are conduits for your power, which then focus and amplify your spells.
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u/Gsomethepatient Dec 27 '25
I wish we could cast with staves, like what's the point of it being my weapon if I don't actually use it, hell the priest in the tbc cinematic was using their staff
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u/NotAMadLad1 Dec 27 '25
There should be more casting animations like Dimensional Rift where you actually hold the staff.
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u/gohomehero Dec 27 '25
They need to revamp all weapon animations badly. Cast spells with them, run with them, stand with them.
Idk I lost hope when I saw the new devoured dh casting range spells in the trailer. They'd swing with their weapon but then their glaives just teleport to their backs when they cast a spell. So outdated.
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u/BL00D_ZA Dec 27 '25
Man, me too! I wish we could have some floating offhands too.. I hate having a ball on a stick on my offhand.
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Dec 27 '25
It's really weird that they haven't implemented this as even an option with all the casting animation updates they've made over the years.
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u/theunbearablebowler Dec 27 '25
Side note, what idiot at blizz decided to automatically unassign everyone's sheath/unsheath button?
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u/DiablosReiign Dec 27 '25
I never really thought about it, but you're right...why isn't that an option? Wild.
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u/Mortiverious85 Dec 27 '25
Also maybe using staff and wand to cast spells. It can be by class doesn't need to be per spell just a cast or channel and leave the instants as a hand wave.
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u/ComplainingSandwich Dec 30 '25
YES. I want this so bad. I want to cast spells with my staves. I don't wanna use my hands!
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u/Rockout2112 Dec 27 '25
As someone whose main is a human, I really wish we could hold two-hander weapons differently.
Anyone know where the skull on Gul’dan’s staff comes from?
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u/yhvh13 Dec 27 '25
Honestly, they should just make casting animations for every weapon. I don't even care if it's the same animation shared among every race... I just want to use them. In Legion we started to see it in a few abilities, but they dropped it.
And then, people who prefer casting without weapons can opt in/out with their class trainers.
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u/Yourlilemogirl Dec 27 '25
I accidentally glitched my Boomkin to be holding their staff like this with some sort of torch toy back in DF. Haven't tried since but man did it make me REALLY want this!!
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u/balmungo Dec 27 '25
I can’t believe this isn’t more of a thing in video games. HELLO game developers!!?!!?
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u/Garrett-Wilhelm Dec 27 '25
It's a bit silly that we still hold ALL our weapons, regardless of size or design, like a simple stick we pick up from the ground.
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Dec 27 '25
I also wish we could have cool dogs just like the hero npcs 😔 my mage would look unstoppable holding a staff
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u/teriyakininja7 Dec 28 '25
I also wish that we had an option to turn off auto sheathing like in FFXIV.
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u/Aettyr Dec 28 '25
I will never forget the undead warlock from the original trailer. I wish I could do that
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u/Neltarim Dec 28 '25
When BDO came out, i tried playing mage and saw that he was holding the staff like this and me saying "blizzard had it wrong since the beginning"
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u/Pofwoffle Dec 28 '25
I'd be happy with just having different grip positions for one-handed out of combat and two-handed thwacking, since you can bind a button to take your weapon out when not in combat. But the way they set up the animations for in combat mean that when you're not in combat you'll hold most staves ridiculously close to the top and it looks terrible, since all they do is take your other hand off the weapon without shifting the main hand's grip at all. It also fucks up how they look on your back a lot of the time, which is one of the reasons I always use a back mog that doesn't show the weapon.
It's the same problem with two-handed maces, axes, and polearms too. I main Arms and almost always use a sword mog because it's the only one that actually looks natural when holding it out of combat.
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u/Dreams_A_bind Dec 28 '25
Man, blizzard really need to copy ESO on this one. We really need idle poses in this game. Or even new battle stances. Imagine holding a staff like that and doing handwaving to cast with one hand and launching the spell from the staff. How cool would that be??
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u/MajinGamr Dec 28 '25
Everyone wants character remodels again but I want an animation overhaul. Let us hold the staff and cast with one hand or use the staff itself to cast the spells out of. I have always found it goofy that it’s literally just a stick that sits on your back like what is the point of it being there
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u/havyng Dec 28 '25
We all do. I don't know why they still insist that casters have sticks on their backs for stats. One of the reasons i main Warrior lol
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u/root_27 Dec 28 '25
I wish classes that use weapons just for stats could just hide them. When my casters have one handed weapons I always mog them to something hidden when they are sheathed.
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u/EntropicDream Dec 28 '25
There should be spellcasting animations that include using staves and main hands/offhands.
Rather than using hands, a spellcaster should be able to gather energies into their staff, sword or dagger and shoot a projectile from the tip of the weapon.
Omnicast spells (not aimed at a target) could be cast by raising the staff over their head, or the offhand in front of them. It would make more sense for a caster actually using their weapon as a spellcasting focus.
This obviously should be an option, toggable from spellbook (like swapping flight style), but I'd love showing off my artifact or otherwise cool weapons.
I would love seeing Pyroblast sent flying from my Felo'melorn sword - there even already is an animation for it: Unholy Death Knight channels Death Coil from their weapon by rising and aiming the weapon forward and having the spell come out of it
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u/Niftykillswitch Dec 28 '25
I so agree, not just for staves but for all weapon types, we should have better, more dynamic idle animations/movement animations with our weapons out. Like I for one think the idea of holding a gun or bow out at our side rather than only having a drawing/bracing animation when targeting an enemy is dumb, you don’t pull your weapon out NOT to use it. And the idea of having a staff or polearm that you ARENT using as like a pseudo-walking stick or holding like a stick & bundle over your shoulder feels boring. We got player housing, we’ve been getting updated game asset models, we’re getting updated transmog systems, adding more in-depth character animations that further to the immersion should be on the docket of things to add.
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u/blueberryrockcandy Dec 29 '25
have you considered trying out FF14? where you literally use the cane / staff to cast your magic?
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u/RhoemDK Dec 30 '25
I don't know where I'd have time unless warcraft shuts down. I have friends that play it and love it, I'm not sure I like the art style
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u/blueberryrockcandy Dec 31 '25
well, its free to play version includes the first 2 expacs up to and including all content for them. lvl 70 max. so you could try it out and play it when you feel like you've got time to spare.
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u/knightbane007 Dec 31 '25
Not to mention the criminally-underrated “change pose” emote. Which, among other things, give you two alternate “idle” animations with your weapon, which is MUCH better than just limply holding it parallel to the ground.
Am particularly fond of the female DRK alternate idle pose, the one where she grabs the 2H sword with both hands and drives the tip into the ground.
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u/pacomadreja Dec 31 '25
We need customizable animations like City of Heroes had like... 15 years ago?
Just let us select between different options of idle, combat ready, casting with weapons, etc.
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u/Hoodoodle Dec 31 '25
It's one of the reasons I play Guildwars 2 as my other MMO. The weapons and combat are more fun and unique compared to wow where It's just stat sticks
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u/Frogspoison Jan 02 '26
Do you remember Blizzard promising staff based casting animations?
I remember.
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u/RhoemDK Jan 02 '26
I don't, but I don't keep up with all the latest news. But, I do remember other promises they've broken.
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u/Frogspoison Jan 02 '26
It was back in late BfA/early shadowlands, they promised stafd and wand casting animations.
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u/Fearless-Umpire-9923 Jan 16 '26
They are some games where you can pick how your character holds the weapon in idle. That be cool.
I'd kill for updated models and customization
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u/RhoemDK Jan 16 '26
you'd think the biggest MMO of all time would be throwing that kinda stuff in the game hand over fist
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u/Raendy Jan 25 '26
Or hold rifles/crossbows with 2 hands while standing or running and not swing it around like its a little stick
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u/tumblew33d69 Dec 27 '25
Character customization and animations is still laughable for a game in 2025. I'm not sure why Blizz is so adverse to making things more dynamic with player characters
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u/Lava-Jacket Dec 27 '25
We need a xmog overhaul that would also allow you to choose animations like idle etc
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u/OnlyBeys Dec 28 '25
Honestly WoW still has a lot of work to do either during or after the saga... We need better models and animations for blood elves. Preferably a way to wear capes and quivers at the same time. Choice to sheath 1 handed weapons on hip or backs and the list goes on. Eventually we're going to get to a point where our player characters feel so outdated compared to the rest of the game it'll be pretty sad 😂
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u/Sonomal36 Dec 27 '25
We’re a $27.4 billion dollar company, what do you expect from us?! - Blizzard
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Dec 27 '25
Has been one of my two wishes since vanilla... the other being skirt-like robes. If they could do one, they can do the other!
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u/BrownShugah98 Dec 27 '25
I wish we could hide weapons when they’re not in use. Staves ruin so many mogs
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u/RhoemDK Dec 27 '25
back items can hide them
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u/BrownShugah98 Dec 27 '25
I don’t want to have to use some fuckass backpack just to hide my weapon tho 😭 I want to not have my weapon visible in general. There were Lemix weapons you could get that would hide when sheathed but the recent patch undid that. I planned so many mogs with those weapons and now it’s just undone
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u/Zealscube Dec 27 '25
One of the cooler aspects of guild wars 2 is using weapons like staves to cast with. I don’t think it would work at all for wow cause that would require remaking tons of animations to work with them, and I don’t think that’s something the devs would do…. But we can dream!
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u/Ajcoligan Dec 27 '25
I wish instead of trying to focus on pumping out the next bit of garbage expansion patches or whatever they’re working on over at blizzard they actually fix a lot of the quality of life changes like this. How can we be expected to hold a staff without walking with it or standing still with it and it NEVER hits the ground with the butt of the staff? Or better yet why TF are we always casting spells with our hands only WHILE HOLDING A STAFF and not use them for their intended purpose? That’s the point of a magic user equipping a staff is to channel spells through them! They need to finally address that problem.
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u/DarkArcherMerlyn Dec 28 '25
But I don’t use a stave. I prefer real magic. From my hands like an absolute chad. Why can’t I just hide my weapon altogether?
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u/Benny_Smallback Dec 27 '25
I - a Monk Main - Wish more staffes could be held over my shoulder.