It would be weird if it didn’t.

If they added e.g. spears, I could see them rolling them out over time, but they really should get them for all motifs.

There is also the possibility of new weapon lines without motifs needed, that being “1H duellist” or “Unarmed” lines. However, I see two major things there:

1. Those can technically already be done in game now, just by unequipping one or both weapons. You lose out on a lot, but there are animations and damage values for light and heavy attacks in the game now.
2. The ‘missing gear slot(s)’ leave you at a disadvantage due to stats and set bonuses

That essentially means that adding those (which would be a much easier sell than something like spears) would kinda need to be a free update instead of a “Chapter-selling feature.” You’d also need a way to account for the lost stats and set bonuses (a passive to dupe the set bonus on the respective ring? Or an invisible wristband ‘gear’ piece?).

Another consideration for any new weapon: it’d need to drop in all sets and be craftable at a set station (Cloth, Smithing, Wood, or JC). Cloth and Smithing are pretty full with 14 things each craftable, but Wood only has 6 things (4 staves, bow, shield) and JC only 2, so those stations are probably ideal. And new set pieces means new drops for all sets in the game (good to get players back into old content, bad that that’s a lot of grinding).

They’d absolutely have to do all the art, unless you’re ok with not adding the new weapons to existing sets or have them look really out of place compared to the other gear. But that also opens the question of what happens to your stickerbook, because it would reduce completion rates and increase everybody’s reconstruction costs.

Also, it’s not just about redoing old art, but the added burden of having to work more on every single new style in the future.

While I would adore for new weapons to come in all existing styles, I think it would still be acceptable if they were only added to present or future motifs. Maybe add them to a handful of extra motifs (like the ancestral racial motifs and ancient daedric) so we get a decent variety.

The plus of more weapon types far outweigh the cons of not having them available on every motif.

Yes but they can get around that pretty easy by making it something that wouldn't need a motif such as unarmed or using the spells in your hand. 1H and Spell would be a pretty familiar call back to the mainline Elder Scrolls games and would not require any additional work on weapons since all of the 1H weapons for it already exist.

A close to medium ranged magicka weapon option is long long long overdue.

Will have to mull this one over.

I know for certain that one argument for not adding them to every motif is that I wouldn't want my main crafter to intantly have all that motif knowledge become incomplete. Not to mention the ensuing (and likely very very costly) chase to track them all down and add them to the lore library.

I think I would rather have additional skill, including animations and morphs, for existing weapons. I also think a new staff type (illusion or alteration?) would be awesome, not because of motifs, but those are just what would interest me most.

I would love to see Spear weapons, especially if they're able to bring mounted combat to us.

Also would love to see a wider variety of staves - alteration, illusion, and mysticism are all staples in Elder Scrolls Lore so why not have staves dedicated to those trees?

Crossbows would also be great to have as a higher base-damage ranged weapon than a Bow (with appropriate drawbacks).

Or go easy mode and do what everyone has been asking for for years: 1h and rune. No new weapon models required. Same with making a new staff type.

They should of added new weapon each quarter instead of subclass. Subclass should of been tied into scribing limiting it to only active skills and game breaking passive stacking.

They've changed global systems before. So the precident is set for them to do it again.

Weapon passives can't be used by werewolves, so I don't really care either way.

Though, if we do get a new weapon type, I hope the Grimoire for that skill line is fun.