I think the job you folks at Ubisoft have done is incredible and I absolutely love the game. The attention to detail and history is astounding and impresses me every day.

That being said, I feel that there is one type of weapon that has been completely ignored and used throughout history by all peoples and it is the simplest of them all: The Staff.

One type of staff that is mentioned to have been used (known in current day martial arts as) the Bo Staff. The staff was not only used there, however. One staff that was commonly used in England long ago was the Quarterstaff. I feel that both the Samurai Faction and Knight Faction could possibly benefit from this in the future, if there are no plans for it yet.

Copied from Wikipedia page on the Bo Staff: The earliest form of the bō, a staff, has been used throughout Asia since the beginning of recorded history. The first bo were called ishibo, and were made of wood (branches, etc. was common?)[citation needed]. These were hard to make and were often unreliable. These were also extremely heavy. The konsaibo was a very distant variant of the kanabo. They were made from wood studded with iron. These were still too cumbersome for actual combat, so they were later replaced by unmodified hardwood staffs. Used for self-defense by monks or commoners, the staff was an integral part of the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, one of the martial arts’ oldest surviving styles. The staff evolved into the bō with the foundation of kobudo, a martial art using weapons, which emerged in Okinawa in the early 17th century.

My opinion on the above: While they mention the Kanabo and Konsaibo in the same breath as staves, I feel that these are two different weapons. I know that the Kanabo/Konsaibo was used as the Shugoki's weapon in the game, and feel as though the staff could be used for another, more agile, hero (I do not consider the Yari that the Nobushi uses as a staff). I feel that the staff could be used by either the Nobushi or (if it actually comes to fruition) the Ninja. Or if neither of those, perhaps a Monk class at some point further down the road.

Copied from Wikipedia page on the Quarterstaff: The oldest surviving English work giving technical information on staff combat dates from the 15th century - it is a brief listing of "strokes of the 2-hand staff", which shares terminology with the preceding "strokes of the 2-hand sword" in the same manuscript.[4] George Silver (1599) explains techniques of short staff combat, and states that the use of other polearms and the two-handed sword are based on the same method. Later authors on the subject included Joseph Swetnam, Zachary Wylde, and Donald McBane. Silver,[5] Swetnam,[3] and Wylde[6] all agreed that the staff was among the best, if not the very best, of all hand weapons.

My opinion on the above: While they mention that the oldest mention of quarterstaff usage was from the 15th century, I don't believe that they would have only discovered the 'Lump-of-Wood' technology so late in history.