[Submitted 71274] Staves should show item equipped in both hand slots

01/24/2023 20:40
Title: Staves only show item equipped in one hand and missing Two-handed prefix
Reproduction Rate: 100%
Blocker? No
Details: Any staff when equipped, only shows the item equipped in one hand, in the Character Window.


Two-handed weapons show the weapon icon on both hands. Additionally, the item type description prefix states Two-handed.


Staff equipment items seems to not show an icon in both hands when equipped, and also seem to be missing the Two-handed prefix for the item type.

Steps to Reproduce:
User Specs: Purchase a Black Ice Staff from the Crown Shop and equip it. Observe a Two-handed weapon does not display an icon in both hands in the Character Window screen. Observe description of item does not state Two-handed in the prefix of the items type.
OS: Windows 10 (10.0.0) 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 0 @ 3.60GHz (8) System RAM: 16303
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU RAM: 8072
SotA.Win.64.1622.Date.01.02.23
Area: OwlsHead
Area Display Name: Owl's Head
Loc: (145.2, 71.9, 121.5)
Debug: T3dsc0hlYWR8fCgxNDUuMTU1LCA3MS44ODcsIDEyMS40NTMpfCgwLCAwLjc2NSwgMCwgLTAuNjQ0KXwyNjAuMTgzM3wxMHwxOA==

 

Mechanically this is one of the finer points that makes the game incredibly fun, and I can't imagine it was done unintentionally. A Staff isn't a true Two-Handed weapon in Shroud, it's a weapon that forces an open offhand.

This makes sense both in the context of the item itself (a staff is often held in a single hand, especially in depictions of casting, but can be grasped with both hands, especially for physical hits) and in the mechanics of the game. An open hand (either primary or off-hand) grants a "Free Hand Bonus" that gives -10% Magic Fizzle Chance which makes perfect sense for a mage. This can be seen by mousing over the open hand in the paper doll.

A high quality staff is slightly easier to make (in terms of masterworking and enchanting) than dual wands, but it suffers a 5% fizzle penalty (wands are -15% compared to the -10% of an open offhand). I believe that and the inability to split masterworks/enchants over a greater variety of options are part of the staff/dual wand balance.

 

Just from a constancy perspective: Two-handed weapons always show an icon on both hands, indicating that both of these hand slots are currently occupied, and cannot have any other item equipped into the slot. The way it is currently, shows the Off Hand slot freely available. Of which it is not. Additionally, Two-handed Weapons always have the Two-handed prefix added to the items type field.

Basically, yesterday a person was confused as to why, when equipping a staff, how come they could not place an item in the Off Hand slot, because the Off Hand slot was showing as available to be equipped with an item.

 

half-verified. it should show in both slots.

i was pretty sure going into this that i was going to determine that this is a one-handed weapon that forces an open off-hand. there is precedent for one piece of gear overriding a second slot without filling it; for instance, you cannot (by design) wear pants under the luminous atavist robe or the elven mage robe. i also note that the stance when standing with a staff is one-handed, which is not true of sword, axe, hammer, or mace.

however, the attack animation of actually USING the staff employs the second hand. additionally, staves are patterned with the reshape two-handed bludgeon recipe, not the one-handed one. that is a definitive categorization. as well, a standard lesser staff has -30% fizzle. if the offhand were giving its -10% for being open, that would be -40%, but in testing (with a spell that gives no plus or minus to fizzle from gear) i only get -30%.

...except for bows.

the weapon types that display the two-handed text all have one-handed versions. there are not one-handed staves (or bows) so the distinction is not needed to keep them seperate.

 

Submitted - Issue 71274