At the very least there needs to be multiple options for Casters but even the fire staff is biased towards melee range with its abilities.
For some reaosn they also have the lowest Crit multipliers despite most of the FS tree boosting crit chances.
Right now mages have access to:
Fire, Ice, Void, Thrust damage.
Meanwhile DEX and STR users have access to:
Striking, Slashing, Thrust
But then there’s mutation modifiers such as immunity to Fire, Void, Ice, Projectiles. So get stuffed mages…
Then melees also retain a higher crit multiplier with an even bigger bias of gauranteed crits from the rear (some mage abilities have this but not all and not basic attacks iirc)
Not only does the weapons need to be completely overhauled but the magic system as a whole.
I would LOVE to see multiple staves and gauntlets added with the caveat that all staves are focussed on long to mid range damage whilkst Gauntlets are Short to mid range weapons.
Add to this that there is a staff and gauntlet for each element type.
Lightning Staff (Long Range, Some abilities do Strike Damage on top of Elemental)
Lightning Gauntlet (short Range focussing on Haste Buffs and fast low damage attacks)
Fire Staff (Long Range, Focussed on some abilities doing big damage while others apply burning DoTs possibly one that consumes burnign to buff pillar of fire damage like Rapiers Blood tree).
Fire Gauntlet (Short to Medium Range. High impact damage abilities with longer cooldowns. Think “Magma Punch” or something. Can apply Burning)
Ice Staff (Long Range, Medium Damage but has Roots, Slows, Rend)
Ice gauntlet (Medium Range Has abilities similar to now but also support abilities such as fortify and weaken)
Void Staff (Long to medium Range, can summon void tendrils to area denial, cripple and debuff enemies)
Void Gauntlet (Pretty much as it is now tbh).
Eitehr options to wield any element for mages or remove elemental immunities form the mutation modifiers.