Are you guys, at any point, did question yourself, why putting a cold stick in front of yourselves does make for a decent defence? And why does blocking with a stick consumes magika? And are you devs, at any point, had a conversation about that? I mean from a mechanical point everybody understands that ice staff is a support/defence tool, that its identity is in its block mitigation, utility such as minor main and minor brittle, as well as taunt and damage shield for allies, BUT from visual perspective how does it make any sense?

I wanna ask you guys to consider an animation rework of a frost staff blocking animation, and for me the best place to derive inspiration from is a skyrims ward spells.

I for one would love to see my char casting an icy ward spell like the one on the picture with its left hand while blocking with an Ice Staff, this would make much more sense from gameplay perspective and easily answer a questions like - how is it better at mitigation? And, why its consumes magika?

Such a minor animation update would add much more depth and attention to gameplay as a whole, and would show the players that devs actually care about Elder Scrolls fantasy, and players immersion into the world they creating.