Generating focus via damage being limited to only base weapon moveset attacks as a 2-handed melee player is tough with their slower speed. Oftentimes I won’t be able to get more than 1 attack off of a boss per the majority of their openings, and if the boss is anything like phase 2 caretaker, then no way am I going to be getting any focus via parries anytime soon(could be a skill issue, as I haven’t figured which of his phase 2 attacks are and are not parryable).
This leaves meals and channel as the primary sources of focus generation(beyond focus gems and enhancement system RNG), and we only get 10 of those meals at most per boss fight. As for Channel, without increased focus generation enhancements, having to hold still for a solid 3 seconds, sapping your health to get any amount of usable focus during a bossfight is asking to be dropped on the spot.
If melee players were able to generate focus offensively from stamina-based melee rune attacks, like the magic stamina runes allow for, then this would allow for much better flexibility for slower weapon users to gain focus against enemies with tighter damage windows, especially when the enemy or boss has few parryable attacks.
I don’t think the four kick runes generating focus will fix your issue. There are only a handful of especially slow weapons for which kicks are a fast move. In most situations where you could kick, you could generally throw a (relatively) fast attack instead. The kick won’t give you risk-free focus similar to what mages/archers enjoy.
If you’re unwilling to use enchantments or gems to fix your focus issues, you’re enjoying a bit of a self-made problem – but you could try some of these options:
increase attack/overall speed to make damage windows more generous
consider using vials to increase focus gen
equip a band of calmness
try using health-as-focus rings in a pinch to squeeze more out of those 11 heals you’re getting
review whether your armour weight or facets are making you gain less focus than expected (archers/mages benefit doubly if they wear light gear)
If you’re willing to entertain having a focus generator (no need to meet stat requirements) and a focus spender and switching between multiple weapons mid-combat:
use a multishot bow with the quick facet
bring a wand and use its stamina runes
try a tucked falcon/demon’s key running attack; potentially generates over 100 focus
bring Falstead’s Barricade with decent max focus
If the enchantment idea is back on the table at any point or you acquire more gems:
‘gain focus on staggering an enemy’ with granite/reliable/blunt
‘gain focus on inflicting any status’; since affliction build-up scales with damage, this works well, especially on lightning; kick runes also do good status build-up
two or three moon stones should set you up permanently
In addition, two-handed runes cost less on average to compensate for decreased focus generation per swing. Many of the good ones cost only 50 focus. Perhaps spend more judiciously?
I agree that it would be a nice baseline rule that if a rune cost stamina to use, it should generate focus. For people who want to mix and match the various kick runes with their moveset combos, it would offset the opportunity cost by at least helping them build those custom combos into a rune attack finisher efficiently, like in fighting games, where even if you have less than enough meter to do a super, you can do a long enough combo to generate it by the time you need to use it.
I don’t see any particular reason to not involve stamina costing runes universally into the meter generation ecosystem, and it’d be a nice plus that they would benefit from focus % generation stats, seeing as they do not benefit from focus cost reduction.
Many of the kick runes are quite nice to either interrupt an enemy because the initial poise damage stops them, or because you can instantly go into an attack out of the recovery of them, making them much safer or useful openers for some weapons due to gap close/range/aoe. You can also do sprint attacks immediately out of them too, letting them operate as really nice variable mixups for a lot of situations.
Anyways, I agree with your suggestion and I don’t see why stamina costing runes for magic alone should be privileged in regard to building focus.