Prairiedillo

save them for your chickens

It's a common weapon in many games and lore. I find it also odd that the mages can't stay in their persona and use the staff as a melee weapon. They end up switching to their normal melee weapons when not firing off their staffs. This makes the staff really more like a gun than a mages staff. If there was a way to build quarterstaffs and then to switch to a staff weapon stance with your mages staff then they would be able to strike with it and stay in their age build. Start off with building a staff, then flame hardened or bound with metals in newer builds. Much like a club the staff would have more of a swipe range and a circle swing.