Stances that don't match almost any weapon in thier category

[Void2258]

We need to do something about stances that are barely usable due to their polarity. For example, Poelarms have 3 stances, one with double-dash polarity and 2 with dash polarity, but only 1 weapon in the entire category, Serro, has a dash polarity (Orthos Normal has it too, but Orthos Prime is Double-dash and this is what most players will actually use). This gets even more ridiculous with Homing Fang, which matches only the Rakata Dark Dagger (but not the normal Dark Dagger), Sinking Talon which matches only Ether Daggers, or Grim Fury, which matches no sparring weapons at all.

Since these go on few or no weapons, (and generally on lesser used weapons when they do have just one), players are discouraged from even trying these stances out. There is no way to test them on a full build to see if they are preferable, since the capacity loss will require an otherwise complete build to be partially disassembled. The only other options are to forma the stance slot (which would only be worth it in the case you ALREADY know you want to stick with the stance with the odd polarity) or to stance forma the weapon, which is non-trivial due to the oddly high cost and build requirements (steel essence, Nitain, and a forma).

We really need to have either a variety in stance polarity on weapons in a class, or less on stances in a class. No stance should be usable on no weapon in a class, nor should one only natively apply to one weapon. A good example of a class that has a variety of polarities is Dual Swords, which have a good distribution of Dash and Double-dash polarity weapons to be utilize all the available stances. On the other end, Machete and Nikanna all have the same polarity on every stance and weapon, ensuring every stance ca be used. Both of these mean all stances for these classes have value and are usable.

[Tiltskillet]

Stances shouldn't even have a real polarity, and just add the extra capacity.  It's nuts that if you like claws or nikana or any single stance class you don't have to worry about matching stance polarities at all, but if you like dual daggers there are three different ones,  Or if Grim Fury is your favorite stance in the world, there isn't even a sparring weapon that matches it, lol.

Of course, around the last time I made a big deal about this, Stance Forma got introduced. :/

 

[Zakkhar]

Polarities aside, certain stances are better than others and will always be used regardless due to forced (Bleed) procs, shorter full animation times and higher Dmg/s.

Looking at your Polearms example, there are two Stances (third is Conclave only): Shimmering Blight, with double dash aka Zenurik and Bleeding Willow, with dash.

Neutral and Forward combos are identical and the same in both stances.

However Forward Block Combo is singificanly better on Shimmering Blight. It is shorter 2,5s vs 3,5s, does more damage per second and the Bleed forced proc is quicker (2nd move, instead of 4th), which in turn allows more Bleed application.