ESO has a clear bend towards magicka and staves. I don't know the reason -- I heard it's because the lead combat developer plays a magicka character but I doubt ESO would allow something that petty to define their game -- but it's true. Look around any vet trial and you're going to see double the staff wielding DPS to melee dps. I get it...staves are easier and safer because you have those all-important shields and can play within the safety of range. But man this game loves its staves.
Does the overwhelming preference to staff wielders drive the drop rate? I've been paying a lot of attention to overland chests and with over a thousand looted weapons in the last few weeks, almost exactly 2/3 of them are staves. Assuming each staff is counted as its own weapon, there are 12 weapon types in the game and 4 staves. So in my small sample size, staves are dropping at DOUBLE the expected rate if linearly distributed.
In addition to the empirical data, I have run well over 100 Sanctum Ophidian trials looking for daggers of the TFS or VO. I've pulled exactly zero daggers, two swords, one maul, and one mace. But I decon several staves a week.
Do staves drop like candy because so many more players play them?
(and, if you feel the need to tell me I'm wrong about staff use because your trial group that speedmodes every vet trial in the game has 9 melee characters, to ahead...)