For what it's worth, a staff is really one of the easiest sorts of weapons to cobble together out of existing parts... so at least there's that.
In fact, the mentioned lack of a gear function is probably related to that. Generally the only figures who have gotten gear functions are those armed with melee weapons. I imagine the lack of both a staff and a gear function is due to the complex and somewhat bulky light bow eating up a lot of the set's budget for other weapons and functionality.
I'm still not totally happy with the use of Light Nougat shells and beams for his bare arm. I appreciate parts in new colors but the end result comes out looking quite blocky. Perhaps a new, more streamlined short shell could have helped avert that, but I suppose with this set being the only one with so much skin exposed it wasn't perceived as worth the cost.
Despite all those complaints, this is still one of the upcoming Star Wars figures I'm most anticipating. Chirrut was one of my favorite characters from Rogue One, and the set has plenty of great parts.