Why arent staffs centered on characters' backs?

AlienMagi

Most staffs look kind of weird and uncomfortable because of this. Im surprised there arent more people asking this question. Am i the only one who would like to see this fixed?

Araneae6537

Centered how? Surely you don’t mean vertically centered — wouldn’t that look terrible? I think it would. I would expect any long weapon carried on the back would be carried at an angle, just going by all depictions I can think of. 🤔 I have no firsthand nor practical knowledge of these things.

zaria

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Centered how? Surely you don’t mean vertically centered — wouldn’t that look terrible? I think it would. I would expect any long weapon carried on the back would be carried at an angle, just going by all depictions I can think of. 🤔 I have no firsthand nor practical knowledge of these things.

This, if it was not cared at an angle it would hit your legs, already an issue of 2H axes not working well no Khajiit and Argonians as they hit their tails. For staffs you might carry them over the shoulder like an rifle. but they are much longer

SickleCider

I think what OP is probably referring to is that all staves connect with your toon's skeleton at the same point, regardless of the staff's length and shape, which can result in some weird positioning where there are uneven lengths of staff to the left and right of your toon. Nerien'eth staff, for example, seems to connect very low on the shaft, so to your toon's left there's hardly anything, while on the right there's a bunch popping up over the shoulder. Looks like it'd fall off your back that way.

This is part of why I favor the longer staves for the most part. Jephrine Paladin, Abnur Tharn's, Ebonshadow don't do this.

LettuceBrain

Versispellis wrote: »

I think what OP is probably referring to is that all staves connect with your toon's skeleton at the same point, regardless of the staff's length and shape, which can result in some weird positioning where there are uneven lengths of staff to the left and right of your toon. Nerien'eth staff, for example, seems to connect very low on the shaft, so to your toon's left there's hardly anything, while on the right there's a bunch popping up over the shoulder. Looks like it'd fall off your back that way.

This is part of why I favor the longer staves for the most part. Jephrine Paladin, Abnur Tharn's, Ebonshadow don't do this.

This. I use the Divine Prosecution outfit on some characters, and the staff is mostly off of my characters. Only the bottom third of it is actually on their back and it is rather jarring.

JKorr

AlienMagi wrote: »

Most staffs look kind of weird and uncomfortable because of this. Im surprised there arent more people asking this question. Am i the only one who would like to see this fixed?

Umm..no.

Angled across, okay. Centered, tangling/clipping hair, and hats, hitting the back of the head every time you turn your head.... no. Not to mention getting smacked upside the head when running, getting the staff shoved in an uncomfortable place if you sneak centered isn't the best option.

DreadDaedroth

Why is ancient nord style staff backward when hold in combat position?

Elsonso

DreadDaedroth wrote: »

Why is ancient nord style staff backward when hold in combat position?

Ancient nords never could get things right. That's why they are now ancient.

GreenHere

Centered was apparently the wrong word to use here, since it seems to be leading a lot of people to think weird things...


But yeah, I've often found the connection/mounting point of various staff styles to be just ... stupid.

Staves should "connect" such that they are balanced on their apparent center of gravity.

When it looks like ⅔ of the entire weight of the staff is teetering above your shoulders, just aching to topple over, that's bad design.


The person in charge of those decisions is obviously working under some unfortunate constraints when it comes to how they can handle these things in-game... or they've never had to do any kind of "real" work in their life that involved picking up cumbersome objects. Some of the staves are mounted in such a way the just shouts "unbalanced load!" to anyone with an eye for basic weight distribution, or whatever.

TwinLamps

Elsonso wrote: »

DreadDaedroth wrote: »

Why is ancient nord style staff backward when hold in combat position?

Ancient nords never could get things right. That's why they are now ancient.

Modern Nords exist, so Id say this cant be correct

JKorr

DreadDaedroth wrote: »

Why is ancient nord style staff backward when hold in combat position?

Why does the Daggerfall faction motif staff make you stare at the lion's ass when you wield it?

SickleCider

GreenHere wrote: »

Centered was apparently the wrong word to use here, since it seems to be leading a lot of people to think weird things...


But yeah, I've often found the connection/mounting point of various staff styles to be just ... stupid.

Staves should "connect" such that they are balanced on their apparent center of gravity.

When it looks like ⅔ of the entire weight of the staff is teetering above your shoulders, just aching to topple over, that's bad design.


The person in charge of those decisions is obviously working under some unfortunate constraints when it comes to how they can handle these things in-game... or they've never had to do any kind of "real" work in their life that involved picking up cumbersome objects. Some of the staves are mounted in such a way the just shouts "unbalanced load!" to anyone with an eye for basic weight distribution, or whatever.

I gotchu. 👍

The other thing that drives me crazy is that a lot of the staves have an obvious grip point but our toons disregard that and hold the slippy metal bits.

Sheezabeast

You want to look like a scarecrow?

AlienMagi

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

GreenHere

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

lol

I too am continually amazed by internet people's ability to misunderstand things that I thought were pretty simple & clear. Glad to know I'm not alone! :P

Unfortunately, though, it seems we're in the minority on this issue. So far I appear to be the only person who's Agreed with your post, which makes me sad. I wish more people had an eye for detail and cared about these "minor" aesthetics. Guess most folks just don't notice/care.

Kiralyn2000

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

Eh, doesn't seem "obvious" at all. The phrase "centered on the back" immediately brings to mind the centerline of the back, rather than the center of gravity of the staff. Hooray for English, the imprecise language?

colossalvoids

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back.

You're definitely not alone on this one.

JKorr

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

Centered on the back....Usually vertically along the spine.

Centered on the staff....Usually midpoint along the length at its center/grip.

Not the same thing, really.

There is no way to guess about the weight or balance points. There's no way to determine the weight of the staff head, and whether there's any counterweight or ferrule at the bottom. I'll guess they use the two handed sword rigging for the staves being "sheathed", so they do look cumbersome and awkward.

Araneae6537

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

I can only read what you wrote, not what you meant. Considering how many people have genuinely requested or alternatively complained about things which would never cross my mind to do so, I would not make the mistake of assuming you meant anything other than what I understood the words to mean.

If had ever noticed the same problem, but perhaps because I favor longer staff styles, I have not. I am especially unlikely to guess you meant a problem that I did not even know existed! But now that I know, yes, I think staffs should be positioned on a character’s back so as to look balanced relative to their perceived center of gravity.

Amottica

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

I can easily see how others came to the conclusion they did after reading the OP as there are some key details missing that would have added clarity.

I do agree that staves ride too high on our backs and seem top-heavy which is what I am assuming you are attempting to explain based on this follow-up post.

Starlight_Whisper

Just would not make sense. Balancing weight better as it currently. Also just easier to get from back for combat.

dem0n1k

it's magic.

jrgray93

I for one think it should be vertical across the back, clasped firmly between your cheeks. At least that would explain why it sticks.

Ippokrates

There is very interesting hypothesis popularized by Shadiversity that medieval spears had attached rope, and were hanging more on shoulder than back - which make this weapon far more accesible.

However, i prefer current state in ESO, it looks more badass

https://youtu.be/TTc_TLU3bxE

Lugaldu

The problem with the staffs (and all other weapons) is not their position, but the fact that they float freely there, with no straps whatsoever.

Ringing_Nirnroot

Wish wands existed, easy to carry (and lose/break)

Dark_Lord_Kuro

I think the angle is ok but some staff shoud be recentered so that the middle of the staff is mostly behind your back
Some of them have the bottom 30%ish in the middle of the back making 70%ish of the staff over your shoulder and it look weird


Also while in resto staff pose the botom of the staff should touch the ground, it just look very unconfortable to hold the staff in the air like that

LalMirchi

Staves are obnoxiously long. No wonder they do not seem to balance. The heads are out of the picture when trying to take screenshots in the loading screen or character view.

They are magical staves after all so why the need to make these weapons so very long?

Ippokrates

LalMirchi wrote: »

Staves are obnoxiously long. No wonder they do not seem to balance. The heads are out of the picture when trying to take screenshots in the loading screen or character view.

They are magical staves after all so why the need to make these weapons so very long?

It depends on style, most staffs are neck-high. Only few, like Jephrine Paladin Staff goes above head.

SickleCider

GreenHere wrote: »

AlienMagi wrote: »

OP here, im actually amazed someone even had a thought about a vertical staff on their back. I think it should be more than obvious that this is not what i meant.

What im saying is that the point where the staff touches our backs is way too low on the staff and not at its center weight point, therefore instead, they are lifted way too high and they stick up way too far making it look uncomfortable to wear and aesthetically displeasing.

lol

I too am continually amazed by internet people's ability to misunderstand things that I thought were pretty simple & clear. Glad to know I'm not alone! :P

Unfortunately, though, it seems we're in the minority on this issue. So far I appear to be the only person who's Agreed with your post, which makes me sad. I wish more people had an eye for detail and cared about these "minor" aesthetics. Guess most folks just don't notice/care.

I just forget to hit the little buttons, I went back and agreed with OP.

What really impresses me about forums is that if a bizarre misunderstanding has been addressed in the thread it doesn't matter because people just read OP and post. You're going to end up having the same discourse over and over. Thaaaat's why on the rare occasions I post here I usually end up making copious edits to the OP.

SilverBride

cen·tered
/ˈsen(t)ərd/
adjective
1. placed or situated in the center.


It is completely reasonable that posters thought the OP meant "situated in the center" by asking "Why aren't staffs centered on characters' backs?"