Why Wands and Rods have no upgrades components ...

okay I know the obvious ... no upgrades because you can have off hand item ... okay now tell me why in the heck would anybody dare use a staff?

You can find you wand, rod with the + recharge and cast speed 20% and add on your offhand item of example mine + 23 energy, +30 health -1 regen ... so i take a ding there ... but my other character has a +12 energy, +33 health all the time ... plus one more mod like +5 armor when hexed or something ...

so why use a staff ... the top staff you could find (to my knowledge and correct me if I am wrong) would be max dmg ... which ironically is same as a dinky wand ... +20% recharge and cast speed in your favoured attribute, + 12 energy before mods (after say max fortitude +30 health, and either insightful head or hale head to get plus on energy 3 is best I have seen, or hale of plus 12 or 13 i think)

I think staffs are highly ineffective and should be beefed up a bit to give a reason NOT to want that off hand item. Please help me on this issue because I need to increase my knowledge on the benefits and disadvantages between these 2 weapon styles.

Thank you in advance

Because I can apply a staff wrapping of enchantment to my staff and get enchantments to last 20% longer when I use the staff. I'm a R/Mo. I use a smiting staff that has a 20% chance of increasing smiting prayers cast times, 20% chance of reducing smiting prayers recharge times, and gives a 20% increase in duration of enchantments. While soloing, this means Balthazar's Aura lasts 12 seconds instead of 10, giving me 22 AE damage per second AE. It also means Shield of Judgement lasts 18 seconds instead of 15 or Mark of Protection lasts 12 seconds instead of 10.

Staves have their place.

the real questions here is why do i need to put both hands on a staff? unless you are also able to use it as a melee weapon, and in this game you cant? so the real quesiton is why is a staff 2handed

I use a staff for the exact reasons you listed. It is upgradeable and I have not found a good 1h weapon for a monk.

As far as making 1h caster weapons not upgradeable, since you get to use a off hand item. Then I ask what about sword / axe? Both of those can be used with a Shield, yet can be upgraded.

It seems to be a major discrepancy that the 1h caster weapons cannot be upgraded.

Because if a stave was a one handed weapon it would be better then a wand/rod

Your inability to find good upgrades for staves has no bearing on their effectiveness when properly upgraded.

I think it has to do with damage out put. Warriors have to be close to do damage a Elementist does it from a distance so the warrior needs more protection then a ranged fighter.

Erm, my smiting staff is 11/22 damage as well.

A staff is 2h because that's what the developer's vision of a staff is. When I shoot damage out of it, both of my hands are on it. When I shoot my bow, both of my hands are on it. When my warrior uses a sword, his other hand is grasping his shield. When he uses a hammer, both hands are on it. It's just the tools they give us in the way they envision those tools to be.

lol.... you already do with a much higher AC than us. ours cap at 60AC

there vison holds no logic.. thats what my post was about.

Getting decent upgrades for staff is horror pure.
I search for a energy + head (+5 at least) and the only person that answered my call wanted more then 3.000 gold for it.

The casual/not farming player can't afford such expansive upgrades.
To find staff upgrades yourself happens very very rarly.

I understand that the staff is 'potentially' more useful with the upgrades, but I have yet to find any upgrades that would sway me from my 1h wand & flame artifact(I have a lvl20 E/N)

I agree with Yojinj - it maybe be possible, but realistically improbable. And I think the fact that even sighting a player using a staff is incredibly rare, sums the point.

It holds logic. It may not seem logical to YOU, but to them a staff is a 2h weapon, just like a hammer is a 2h weapon.

Having said that, I do think wands should be upgradeable, just like 1h weapons are.

if staffs can be one handed, allowing them to hold powerful artifacts/focus/idols it would be too unbalanced
if wands were allowed to have powerful upgrades they would be too unbalanced

cant have the best of both worlds, yall should know that

Depends on the staff. I found a staff that does damage equivelent to a fire wand, and had a energy bonus equivilent to an off handed item. It even came with an upgrade built it (its a light blue staff). Added really good upgrade to it, and its become better then any wand that I've found so far, and I'm a level 17 almost 18. Plus, if I do find a staff that is better, I can always strip the upgrade from my old one, and place it on the new one.

WS= Weapon Set

WS #1 Nice Wand + Nice Off-hand
WS #2 Staff with Quick Recovery from Poisin
WS #3 Staff with Quick Recovery from Blind
WS #4 Staff with Quick Recovery from Dazed

Apply some bonus mods and thats what I use em for.

The only reason I use a staff over a wand is my staff gives me +1 to Divine Favour.

Can't do that with a wand...

My mesmer is now using a 2-handed staff because it has more energy on it than anything she could get using wand/off-hand AND has some very nice bonus to armor and recovery from bleed as well. Now just looking for upgrades to it.

Guess I'm an exception to the rule.

pardon, but have you found a fortitude greater than 30? <<< 4th character still unable to find this illusive +99 item lol

And re: recharge, and cast speed ... guess what ... wands have them as well. So really they level out and it is based on preference ... my question is why would i use a staff? (even if it is only a 3 bonus difference in health with my +33 off hand)

Still puzzled as to why I would buy a staff ... the only note I saw here that actually had backing to it was the enchantments (which I havent seen a wand wityh enchantments last 18% longer)

----- and not to digress -----

I dont want this to be turned into a why cant wands be upgraded ... they are fine where they are ... what I am asking is that ... with the combo of a wand + foci, I have yet to see any staffs that can add +23-20 energy ... so lets do a comparison ... please somebody post the best possible Staff vs Wand combo ... I will try (but I apparently lack the skills, no inability ... so I will require help as my belittled brain cant seem to 'make my question clear enough')

Okay so given both are max dmg (which doesnt matter cause thats not your job)

------------------------------------------------
Wand = +20% recharge + cast speed in your attribute of choice, +3 energy
Foci item A = +12 energy, +20% recharge and cast in your attribute of choice
Foci item B = +12 energy, +45 health (ench), +8 armor (vs physical)
Foci Item C = +30 energy, -1 energy regen, +30 health

vs.

Staff = +20% recharge and cast speed in att of choice, + 12 energy
Staff head = hale +30 or insightful + 5
Staff wrapping = Fortitude +30 or enchantments +20% longer
-----------------------------------------------------

regardless I would likely take the wand and foci with +20% speeds and double them up for +40%

so why bother with a staff potential of +60 health is not really as important is it? only 1 i think is useful is the enchantments last 20% longer

So please help me figure this one out here ... your opinions and thoughts are greatly appreciated, even yours taion

Alot of later-in-game staffs from collectors have nice bonus.
Like i got a smiting staff that makes recharge of skill and skill cast time faster (20%chance).
Same i got with a Deadly bone Staff for Deathmagic.

Only thing those staff need are +energy heads, +armor wrappings and so on.

I use a wand+off-hand art because I gain more energy than a dinky staff. Currently I'm wielding a Flame Wand with 11-21 +12 energy -1energy regen 10% chance improve skill recharge, and as for off-hand I'm either using a +12 energy 20/20 air magic or fire magic artifact. This totals up to 24 energy compared to a maxed out 15 energy moded staff.

24 minus one regen. I don't like -regen things. You notice lack of regen the moment your energy is out.