White Mage Stance Looks Out Of Place

[MYFATHERBEATSME]

As a White Mage main this has been a minor annoyance since the launch of ARR.

WHM holds a staff weird for what it is. The WHM stance fits the role when we were conjurers using a shield and wand, but now it seems out of place with two handed staffs. Back in 1.0, staffs were held with two hands as below.


But at the launch of ARR we were given this odd stance which doesn't fit IMO. Though I would prefer the old stance over the one now, the WHM stance should be inspired by how Kan-E-Senna holds her staff.


Even the Asylum animation has a brief moment where the staff is held like her.
https://imgur.com/pyY4L4U

As of now the WHM stance is looks off to me and I'd love to see a slight redesign. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

[Elamys]

I greatly dislike the WHM idle stance. It was very clearly designed with wand/shield in mind, but we don't use that anymore. BLM doesn't seem to have this problem, though. It looks awkward.

[MYFATHERBEATSME]

I greatly dislike the WHM idle stance. It was very clearly designed with wand/shield in mind, but we don't use that anymore. BLM doesn't seem to have this problem, though. It looks awkward.

I actually think BLM has one of the better stances and it fits their role and animations well. But WHM definitely feels off with Staffs.

[Yhual]

+1 from me! I dread when I do a cutscene as whm and everyone unsheathes their weapons to fight and then there's me- hands outstretched and doing a weird butt wiggle.

[Sebazy]

Stylistically, it's a bit of a catch 22 really.

I do agree, that the staff pose in 1.0 was more natural, however it was also significantly more restrictive with regards to animations that can follow on from it. In many, perhaps even most cases, you're just going to end up holding on with one hand anyhow, thus I suspect SE haven't had much interest in removing the legacy of 1h weapons on some casters.

[MYFATHERBEATSME]

Stylistically, it's a bit of a catch 22 really.

I do agree, that the staff pose in 1.0 was more natural, however it was also significantly more restrictive with regards to animations that can follow on from it. In many, perhaps even most cases, you're just going to end up holding on with one hand anyhow, thus I suspect SE haven't had much interest in removing the legacy of 1h weapons on some casters.

I agree that it would restrict the animations if we reverted to 1.0 stance. But moving towards Kan-E-Sennas stance I feel would fit well. Its not to far off from what we have now in terms of arm position and wouldn't be to different from the animations we have now. Guild Wars 2 Elementalist use a similar stance with their staffs which looks great compared to WHM.

[MYFATHERBEATSME]

+1 from me! I dread when I do a cutscene as whm and everyone unsheathes their weapons to fight and then there's me- hands outstretched and doing a weird butt wiggle.

Its like your character is unsure of what they should do with their hands! I dread cutscenes combat scenes too as my WHM, it just looks so non intimidating (especially for someone who is called the Warrior of Light).

[Canadane]

Solution: bring back mage shields

[NobleWinter]

Solution: bring back mage shields

No one would be angry if WHM had a Staff Shield Combo for any high tier gear set. It would actually be refreshing to see a cool WHM only Shield on someone's back.

[Fernosaur]

I've always thought even the wand+shield pose is terrible, tbh. It just looks awkward.

I think there's a way to slightly alter the current pose to reach one that's similar to the 1.0 one. I'll try and do some edits on it to illustrate my point but it might take a little bit. Brbrbrb


Edit:
Far from perfect, really, since I just copy-pasted the hands and spun the staff, so the body language is all stiff and awkward without being able to move the rigging on the 3D model, but something like this is what I'm thinking. Just spinning the wrists, bringing the forearms a bit closer to the chest in a more defensive manner. Making it look a little bit less "battle ready," and a bit more reserved, if you will.



This of course runs into limitations of what a wand+shield look would be, but I think a middle point could plausibly be reached if the pose looked a bit more defensive and conservative, reminiscent of what Yuna's battle pose looked like in FFX, for example.



With a middle point between those two, I think a pose could be reached for both types of equipment that didn't look as stiff as the one we have already does.