I suggest making it last longer. I mean arrows last forever, and are MUCH smaller pointed staffs for all intensive purposes. 
Ranger staff
Dude, you need to disconnect! 
For what purpose? The fact that you can create a weapon on tap with reasonable hit/dam (albeit disarmable) is a big boon as it is.
Dey
well the purpose being that there are so few staffs available. I have not seen any current chars using many of the staffs. I have not seen a bone cane since I deleted Azzar almost 2 months ago. Have not seen nature staff since I deleted Grush. Just a suggestion.
A lack of good staffs also hinders warriors, zerks, ninjas, bards etc - classes which will make equal use off staffs but can't make staffs.
I can't profess to knowing much about the current rare situation, but if it is as you say, increasing duration of ranger staff doesn't solve the underlying issue.
Dey
Time it, make a spare a few ticks before you know it will rot. Thats what I do with my rangers. Timing is everything. If I remember the duration changes with rank, or possibly skill %.(been a while)
The IMMs could make it easier on us by adding life expectancy of the ranger staff to the Lore skill. But that seems like a lot of work, for a minor issue.