What tends to turn me off about staves are (this'll sound stupid) the way they're used. First off, your character holds them as if they are swords. When I imagine holding a staff, I imagine you proudly standing with the staff erect and upright, resting the butt on the ground. Hell I also imagine being able to actually use them in melee combat, not as an effective tool, but hey, it could keep them at bay.
Staves should also be able to be masterfully be created. Instead of buying a n unenchanted staff and simply placing a spell on it, it should be much more.
Imagine if you will, a masterful wizard wishing to create a staff. To do this, he must first have a few innate skills: he must know his way around a forge, he must have proficient skill in the school of choice, and he must have the luck (or coin) to acquire a desired gemstone and soul gem.
First, he must forge the shaft. He can do this With a number of different materials. A metal like steel would provide a staff that could use a variety of spells, at the cost of charges. A material such as Dwarven would produce an Alteration staff, ebony would produce Destruction staves, and so on.
Next, the wizard must place a soul gem. Depending on the soul gem, this would dictate both what level of spell AND the number of charges of the desired spell. Petty soul gems would create novice level staves. Lesser soul gems can create Apprentice level spells OR even provide more charges for a Novice spell.
Next comes the gem. The gem is both a medium for the spell casted and sometimes even an amplifier. Gems come in two forms, normal and flawless. Normal gems provide more charges, but do not amplify the spell. Flawless gems amplify the spell, but consume more charges. A gem such as a flawless garnet would provide a medium that would have a base power at the cost of no charges. Something like a sapphire would provide more charges than a garnet, but a flawless sapphire would provide LESS charges than a flawless garnet, but increase the spells power a bit (such as more damaging Destruction spells, or greater duration/enemy level cap/magnitude of other schools.
This would make staves more reliable IMO
