Gear

The intent behind the equipment system is that you will have certain types of equipment that are more relevant against the certain type of content that you're attempting to defeat or to succeed at. And what that means is, especially on the defensive side of things, you will want to have different gear sets acquired to be most effective against those particular encounters. On the weapons side of things, weapons have different types of interactions. They have passive stat progression that's available through the weapon type that's going to be relevant based on the way you're kitting your character- in concert with your ability selection as well through the skill tree- on how you're attempting to emphasize your character's waterfall stats; and there's different viable approaches that each class has. We're of course adopting a trinity type system with a hybridization model, so you can flirt the line between the roles to a degree based on player customization; and a agnostic equipment approach allows players to emphasize that hybridization model to a degree. So there's still going to be a spectrum of relevant equipment that's most effective for your character based on the role you're attempting to provide a particular party or yourself solo; and players will do well to stay within that spectrum. But it is something that is intended to be somewhat agnostic of class.^[2] – Steven Sharif

Gear (weapons and armor) has approximately a 40-50% influence on a player's overall power in the game.^[3] This ratio will likely change over time as characters progress through various systems.^[4]

Weapons and armor are not class locked, but certain classes are more efficient with certain types of weapons or armor.^[2]^[5]^[6]^[7]

There are no stat requirements for equipping gear, but there are affiliation and level requirements.^[8]^[9]^[10]

We have level requirements that are going to be applicable for particular types of gears. There's going to be affiliation requirements for certain types of gear as well; but from a stat perspective we decided not to go down that route; and the only reason for that is we don't want to shoehorn people into particular types of builds; and stats relate to those particular types of builds because there's a lot of versatility that exists within our class system. They don't have to play it per-se and that lends itself to a meta. It's like, oh you're a tank where you have to tank constitution and if you don't take constitution you don't get access to this really cool tank breastplate. You know stuff like that. It can feel a little too restrictive when you start to dictate from a stat perspective how a player must build their character.^[8] – Steven Sharif

Specific and necessary crafting materials for higher tier items can only be obtained through the deconstruction of lower-tier items. This is designed to keep lower tier crafted gear relevant through progression and across expansions.^[11]

A big component of gear usefulness or relevancy, as either you're progressing or as expansions come out or whatnot, is that there is a deconstruction method associated with gear; and that deconstruction can provide very specific and necessary crafting materials that can only be achieved through deconstruction of certain types of gears. And then additionally as we consider expansions and additional itemization paths and tiers going forward, all gear is going to remain relevant within the tiers that they exist. So from a progression standpoint, as you achieve access to different types of tiers, those gears are still going to have relevancy within that tier.^[11] – Steven Sharif

Certain higher-end weapons and armor will have active abilities, but the intention is that these abilities will not radically redefine the way an archetype is played.^[12]

Active skills that do get associated with certain types of pieces of armor and/or weapons: those will be much on the higher-end if they're an active ability that comes with those things. But I still don't think that the intended impact of those types of abilities is for us to radically redefine the way a particular archetype might play.^[12] – Steven Sharif

Gear is acquired from a number of different sources, such as quests, drops, crafting, legendary bosses, guild-oriented tasks, favor, and unique currencies.^[13]
- Different tiers of gear are accessible based on a character's level.^[9]^[10]
- In general, higher tier gear will be from gear sets.^[13]

Gear is not subject to inventory weight limits.^[14]

Players may access their gear and other completed items in warehouses at any node, regardless of citizenship or housing ownership.^[15]^[16]^[14]

Q: Could you explain in detail what you mean by 50% of player power when talking about gear influence on player power?

A: That's just a general allocation of what players can expect to pursue when enhancing their player character power. Now obviously, the distribution and ratio of those types of influences, whether it be itemization, whether it be level, whether it be, augments choices, and/or skill tree choices: those influences and ratios change through the leveling curve. So, at lower levels your character level is going to be more influential over character power than itemization will be, but at endgame or higher levels, or at the end of the adventuring level progression, that's when itemization really gets an emphasis for its ratio of player power.^[4] – Steven Sharif

Gear types

We like to really refer to ourselves as a PvX game, because in those systems of PvP, PvE, crafting they're all intertwined: They're interdependent on each other... Our system of development really requires some interdependence there between those things. You're going to need a crafter to give you the best items. You're going to need PvPers to secure cities and castles. You're gonna need PvErs to take down those world bosses for those materials to craft.^[17] – Steven Sharif

Ashes is a comprehensive game. It is not a PvP focused or a PvE focused, it is a comprehensive PvX game and as a result these systems are all interconnected and have to coexist with one another with certain types of mechanisms that can provide that give and take, that push and shove.^[18] – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation is a PvX game. Players will naturally encounter both PvP and PvE elements.^[18]^[19]^[20] It is unlikely that a player could purely focus on just PvP or just PvE.^[18]^[17]^[19]^[20]

A defining principle of Ashes of Creation as a PvX game is that PvE builds the world, and PvP changes the world.^[21]

Around 80% of the content is open-world, where healthy competition is an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX game design.^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]^[26]

There won't be separate PvE and PvP servers but some servers may be more PvP focused than others.^[19]^[27]

There will not be different PvP and PvE gear types.^[28]

All stats relate to a player's combat effectiveness in PvX.^[29]

We're very clear with our objective and philosophy on the game and we understand that they may not appeal to everybody. But it is an important reciprocal relationship between the content that's related to PvE and the content that's related to PvP and they feed off of each other. They're catalysts for change: Their progression, their development. It's things that people can value when they see something earned and they see something lost. That elicits an emotional response from the player: That they've invested time in to either succeed or fail; and PvP allows for that element to be introduced into gameplay. And we're very clear that is our objective: That risk versus reward relationship, that achievement-based mentality. Not everybody's going to be a winner and that's okay.^[26] – Steven Sharif

Weapon types

Spear and Shield 3D renders. 3D model by Chris Atkins.^[30]

Different weapon types offer different passive skills and proc effects from their weapon skill tree as well as different waterfall stats.^[31]

Axes (One and two handed).^[32]
Bows.^[32]
Clubs.^[33]
Daggers.^[32]
Hammers.^[34]^[35]
Lances.^[36]
Maces (One and two handed).^[32]
Orbs.^[37]^[32]
Polearms/Halberds.^[32]
Scepters.^[38]
Shields.^[32]
Spears (One-handed).^[39]^[40]
Spellbooks.^[37]^[32]
Staves.^[32]
Swords/Rapiers (One and two handed).^[32]^[41]
Wands.^[37]^[42]

The following weapon types are not equippable by players in the MMO.

Crossbows will not be in the MMO.^[43]^[44]
- Previously crossbows were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.^[45]^[46]
Potion launchers will only be able to be used as ship attachments in the MMO.^[47]^[48]
- Previously potion launchers were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.^[46]^[49]

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

There is an even split between melee and ranged weapons.^[32]

Armor types

Dünir tier 5 plate armor 3D render.^[50] This render does not include any special effects as a result of enchanting.^[51]

Armor types in Ashes of Creation.

Armor characteristics

Kaelar armor.^[59]

You're not going to get one set of armor that's going to be situationally relevant for every encounter you might face- that's crazy- and as a result of that you're going to have to succeed in acquiring sets that are situationally relevant for the types of encounters you are intending to face.^[60] – Steven Sharif

Light, medium, and heavy armor weights have different characteristics.^[61]

Stat values will be predominately the same but may be able to be adjusted by crafters who are capable with that type of armor.^[61]
- Physical Defense Mitigation.^[61]
- Magical Defense Mitigation.^[61]

The stat values on armor can include both damage dealing and damage mitigation stats.^[60]

Certain armor types are going to have certain type of predominant stat values. So there's going to be certain waterfall stats and/or certain primary attributes that are available on certain armor types; and then if you want to have the one that's not more prominently available- those will be rare to get- you'll have to elicit the services of a crafter who's very capable within that particular type of armor in order to get the non-traditional stats and/or waterfalls available. So there's still the ability to get whatever on these but they're going to be more predetermined for certain types of stats and waterfalls.^[61] – Steven Sharif

Set bonuses are granted to wearers of exclusively one "type" of armor, for example: all cloth, or all plate.^[61]^[61]^[62]

There'll be certain types of set bonuses granted across specific full sets or partial sets of armor types. There will be a similar function in how damage is mitigated based on the type of armor you're wearing and how that relates to physical or magical incoming damage. So that's something to keep in mind. It's going to be situational what type of adversarial foe am I facing and what armor is the best against that to mitigate damage.^[61] – Steven Sharif

The "type" of armor (cloth, leather, plate) a character is predominantly wearing is visible in their nameplate.^[61]^[63]
- There will be strengths and weaknesses for armor sets that opponents can exploit with gear enhancements, for example.^[61]

You're going to have certain strengths and weaknesses of armor sets and those can be specced into by your opponents. For example, I might place some type of elemental enhancements on my weapon that horizontally changes my outgoing damage and that's going to reflect based on the opponent on my target opponent and what type of armor they have available to them to counter that.^[61] – Steven Sharif

Itemization choice may potentially play into universal skill sets such as Dodge, Parry, and Active blocking.^[61]

We're playing a little bit with the idea of these universal skill sets, such as dodge, parry, block, active blocking, stuff like that; and progression within those areas. There is something to be said I think for incorporating itemization choice as part of that system as well; and how it might affect that system. That's something that I think is going to be coming up in the pitch phase here shortly from design as we implement those universal skills. So you can look out in the future for more information on that.^[61] – Steven Sharif

Gear slots

Alpha-2 character sheet work-in-progress UI.^[64]

We wanted to create something that would handle a couple of different roles, with obviously your equipment slots for what we call a "paper doll", which is that display of your character. Eventually it won't just be a image of your character, we hope to have the 3D character and be able to rotate around, look at what you're wearing. And then we wanted to support a couple of different features here, with some base stats; the equipment, which will show what equipment you have available to quick swap, so you don't have to have your inventory and the screen open; detailed stats for those people who want to get into all of the details; and then of course gear sets. So this is going to be able to swap to your sets of gear quickly; and being able to save different loadouts.^[64] – Colby Marchi

There are multiple gear slots in Ashes of Creation.^[64]

3 Back slots.^[64]
- 1 Ranged slot.^[65]^[64]^[66]^[67]
- 1 Cloak/cape slot.^[65]^[66]^[67]
- 1 Backpack slot.^[65]^[67]

3 Belt slots.^[64]
- 1 Mainhand slot equips a player's primary weapon.^[68]^[69]^[70]^[71]^[67]
- 1 Offhand slot can equip shields, spell focuses, sigils, and dual weapons.^[72]^[67]
- 1 Potion/Pouch/Scroll slot.^[66]^[73]

8 Armor slots.^[64]^[74]
- 1 Helmet slot.^[64]^[52]
- 1 Shoulder slot.^[64]^[53]
- 1 Chest slot.^[64]^[56]
- 1 Wrist slot.^[64]^[57]
- 1 Glove slot.^[64]^[53]
- 1 Waist slot.^[64]^[53]^[58]
- 1 Leggings slot.^[64]^[53]
- 1 Boot slot.^[64]^[57]
5 Jewelry slots.^[64]
- 2 Accessory slots.^[64]
- 1 Necklace slot.^[64]^[75]
- 2 Ring slots.^[64]^[76]
1 Undergarment slot is used to equip artisan gear.^[64]^[77]
There may be a specific slot for musical instruments, but this has not been finalized yet.^[78]

Previously it was stated there were 16 gear slots.^[74]

Gear is not subject to inventory weight limits.^[14]

Offhand items

Alpha-2 Spell focus offhand item.^[72]

Offhand items are items that can be equipped in a player's offhand slot, such as shields, spell focuses, and sigils.^[72]

Only one-handed weapons may be equipped when the offhand slot is in use.^[72]
Previously, shields were equipped in a back slot.^[66]^[67]
Dual wielded weapons occupy both main and offhand gear slots.^[79]^[80]

Items on back and belt

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show in their Back and Belt slots.^[66]^[73]^[81] Only one item can show at a time, and that is determined by player choice.^[67]

There'll be a priority system behind that that'll determine... do I show the Bow if the Greatsword is unequipped or do I show the Polearm if the Greatsword is unequipped.^[81] – Jeffrey Bard

Some ranged or melee abilities require a specific weapon to be equipped. Weapons that are equipped in the character's ranged or offhand slots will automatically swap in and out as required by the skill.^[68]^[69]^[71]
- Weapons are able to be sheathed.^[67]^[82]
- Idle animations will be selectible by players in the character creator.^[83]

Ranged weapons

Pre-alpha Ranger bow modeled by Jon Arellano and concepted by Jeff Delierre.

A character may equip up to two hand weapons and also wear a ranged weapon on their back.^[69]^[71]^[67]

Characters performing ranged abilities will switch to the ranged weapon, then can switch back to the melee weapon and shield or two-handed melee weapon.^[69]^[71]
There will be a setting to determine if the ranged weapon or main/offhand is the primary weapon to use for Q or left-mouse-button basic attacks.^[69]^[71]
Rangers do not have a minimum distance requirement for using their ranged weapons.^[84] Previously rangers were intended to have a minimum distance requirement.^[85]

Melee weapons

Low-level shield, one-handed mace, and two-handed staff 3D renders from Alpha-2.^[86]

You can see by the quality of these types of weapons: these are relatively lower level. These are some of the earliest types of weapons and or gear that you can acquire within Ashes of Creation.^[86] – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons and abilities have a maximum range of effect.^[87]^[85]

There are two melee weapon slots: One on each side of a character's belt.^[67]

Dual wielding

Dual daggers 3D render. 3D model by Carson Steil, concept by Jeff Delierre.^[88]

Dual wielding will be permitted for selected one handed weapons.^[80]^[89]

Dual weapons are treated as single items that when equipped will occupy both main and off-hand gear slots.^[79]^[80]
There is a limited selection of weapons that can be dual wielded.^[80]
Shields cannot be dual wielded.^[90]^[89]
Great swords probably can't be dual wielded.^[91]

Q: How will animations work while dual wielding weapons of A) a different type, for example an axe and a dagger; or B) different weapon speeds?

A: Dual weapons will have their own animation sets; and... there will be a limited selection of which weapons can be dual weapons. Players will make that selection. They'll create those dual weapons as as bespoke single items that when equipped will occupy both the main and offhand; and then how we handle the attack speeds is we offer animations at a particular speed and then we adjust that with a modifier based on whatever is influencing that: either increase or slow down in speed.^[80] – Steven Sharif

Swapping gear

Alpha-2 Mage swapping from a Greatsword to a Wand while in combat.^[92]

It is possible to store and swap gear loadouts with a single hotkey button press when out of combat.^[14]^[64]^[93]

There will be a loadout system that you can use in your inventory to help manage those different types of set that you can customize. So you can do a simple hotkey press and be able to swap your armors, out of combat of course, with a single button click.^[14] – Steven Sharif

Weapon swapping is possible while in combat but armor cannot be swapped while in combat.^[94]^[95]^[68]^[69]^[71]^[96]
- Previously it was stated that swapping weapons (from inventory) into a hand or range slot is not possible in combat.^[95] Prior to this, weapon swapping was said to be subject to a cooldown period (in the range of a few seconds) following any damage taken or done by the player.^[97]^[98]

You may not swap armor when you're in combat, but you may swap your weapons; and there's obviously a few reasons of why this can be important: We're a itemization agnostic class design, so players equip with items that there are most necessary based on the adversary or the challenge that they're facing; and so we want that to be available for players to swap with weapons.^[94] – Steven Sharif

Gear rarities

Item rarities in Ashes of Creation.

Gear sets

2nd Sword Division non-cosmetic gear set 3D renders. 3D model by Keith Kovach.^[105]

Equipping the Titanbark gear set in Alpha-2.^[106]

We're going relatively traditional in the gear access points by being driven by level tier that players will have access to. So as you advance in your adventuring class you will begin to unlock the ability to equip gear of a higher level.^[9] – Steven Sharif

Gear sets (also known as tier sets) are a part of Ashes of Creation.^[13]^[9]^[10]

In general, higher tier gear will be from gear sets.^[13]

Q: How often will armor be part of an entire armor set with other cosmetically matching pieces versus unique armor pieces that don't match or go along with anything else in the game?

A: There is a balance of both set pieces and non-set pieces and usually you're going to see at higher grades within a tier are going to be more predominantly set driven; and the lower interstitial power levels of the gear for that tier are the potentially bespoke pieces; and obviously those pieces are catered around a number of different interactions, such as ones you get from quests, ones that you get from drops, ones that you can craft, ones that you get from legendary bosses, ones that you get from guild-oriented tasks, or in-game favor and unique currencies. So there's different types of acquisition models and each of them has a spattering of either bespoke pieces or set-oriented pieces; and there are even varying levels of set pieces as well. So you might have a full eight piece set, or a three-piece set, or a five piece set, depending on where it lives within the tier.^[13] – Steven Sharif

Players gain bonuses depending on the number and tier of pieces they have equipped.^[13]^[9]^[10]
- An overarching set effect is granted to wearers of exclusively one "type" of armor, for example: all cloth, or all plate.^[62]
- There may be set bonuses that members of certain communities will obtain based on gear set type.^[13]^[10]
- Set bonuses will not provide new abilities, but certain higher-end weapons and armor will have active abilities, but the intention is that these abilities will not radically redefine the way an archetype is played.^[12]

Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.^[107]

It will be possible to store and swap gear loadouts with a single button press when out of combat.^[14]^[64]^[93]

Approximately 49 unique gear sets were obtainable in Alpha-1 from crafting, quests, drops and exploration.^[108] These were unique sets with different stats, but some may be similar in appearance.^[108]

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Certain set bonuses may trade off core gear stats.^[109]
There are passive abilities that can be chosen to become more adept with certain set types.^[10]
There will be viable non-set builds.^[109]

List of gear sets

Dünir tier 5 plate armor 3D render.^[50]

This is fully modeled and completed top grade armor and this is obviously a plate set that you're seeing. This is an armor set you can achieve in game.^[51] – Steven Sharif

In-game achievable gear sets.^[108]^[9]^[10]

Gear binding

There may be some gear binding (BoE or BoP) but it will be an exception rather than the rule, as this doesn't facilitate the objectives for the economy.^[110]

Very little gear will be account bound or soulbound in Ashes of Creation.^[111]^[112]
- The game economy is based around crafting and degradation of items.^[111]
Gear is obtained via crafting, gathering and processing along with raid and dungeon bosses.^[112]

A lot of what we experienced in games that usually come before us is that many things are account bound and they're soulbound to your character... Instead very little here is character bound. Very very little. The vast majority of gear- yes you will get quest related gear as rewards- but it won't be let's say one set in one dungeon and you must run the dungeon over and over. Instead we want to really emphasize the reliance on the economy and crafters and gatherers and processors to support a majority of the gear structure in-game, combined with that of world raid bosses and dungeon bosses; not a repetitive quest line through a single dungeon.^[112] – Steven Sharif

Trading gear

Ashes of Creation concept art.^[113]

There will be player to player trading in Ashes of Creation.^[114]^[115]^[116]

Q: Will Ashes of Creation have player-to-player trading? Will there be anything stopping me from gifting a friend that's fresh to the game a bunch of in-game money to help them get on their feet quickly?

A: There won't be anything to stop you from doing that.^[115] – Steven Sharif

Player to player trading, interacting with vendors or NPCs, and the ability to access storage is disabled for corrupted players.^[117]^[118]^[119]

Security systems are in place to combat RMT and other forms of cheating.^[114]^[120]^[121]^[122]^[123]

The nature of player to player trading already introduces that in an open economy game... that is why we have measures to attempt and heat flag suspicious transactions, active gms and other honeypot systems/agents that will be active in discovering those types of cheaters.^[114] – Steven Sharif

Sharing gear with alts

There will be a "comfortable" number of character slots available for alts.^[124]^[125]

Progression pathways in Ashes of Creation are per-character.^[126]^[127]

Storage space is shared between characters on the same account.^[126]^[128]^[129]
- Gear will be able to be transferred between characters on the same account.^[126]^[128]^[129]
- Transfer of resources and materials is only be possible via player housing storage, which is localized to a particular house.^[128]

Characters on the same account are able to share player housing, including furniture and freehold workstations.^[126]

Cosmetics can be reassigned to characters within an account, with a potential cooldown period.^[130]^[131]^[132]

Alts within a single account may have different professions.^[133]

Gear enhancement

Gear enhancements (power stones/runes) can be applied to weapons to add elemental or energy types of damage.^[134]^[135]

Gear enhancements do not increase an item's level requirement.^[136]

We are very likely going to have a rune system and then we'll have the ability to sort of enchant weapons outside of that too... That's not always going to be like a vertical progression... Some of it's going to be giving up something to get something else; so maybe I do less physical damage but more magical damage, that thing.^[135] – Jeffrey Bard

Progression in various PvP systems will unlock enchantment stones that grant temporary PvP-focused benefits to gear (via a socketing system).^[137] Performance is measured over six month PvP seasons.^[138]
- Guild wars.^[137]
- Arenas.^[137]
- Caravan PvP.^[137]

It's not as though you're going to necessarily acquire these once and then you're set for your PvP enchantments, but instead you'll have to continually perform month after month in order to keep having those slotted enchantments.^[137] – Steven Sharif

Enchanting

Enchanting is not an artisan profession in its own right. Scribes create scrolls that can be utilized by different professions to create enchantments relating to that profession.^[139]^[140]

Enchantment scrolls can be sold on the open market.^[139]^[141]

Enchanting does not increase an item's level requirement.^[136]

You don't really push a particular item's level requirement or the identity of that item. You can enhance it, you can add enchantments to it, but it's still the item it is.^[136] – Steven Sharif

Skills and stats on gear

Crafters will be able to assign different skills/abilities and stats on gear.^[142]^[143]

Master crafters will be able to influence several (but not all) stats on their crafted items.^[142]^[144]
- Stats on crafted items will vary based on the item's rarity.^[145]
There will also be methods of moving stat blocks around but this won't necessarily be an easy task.^[61]^[142]
All gear will be able to be assigned any stat.^[142]

Crafters will be able to 'rejigger' stat blocks; and there will be a couple of other ways to move things around to create both the look and the stat block that you're looking for. It's not always going to be easy. There will be a lot of challenges involved with that. But the goal is to give you guys the option to customize your gear the way you want them to be.^[142] – Jeffrey Bard

Not all armor sets will be the cookie cutter set. They will have the influences from the crafter available in it, if it's a crafted set.^[143] – Steven Sharif

Gear is broken down into Core Stats and Additional Stats.^[146]

Best-in-slot items

What is considered best-in-slot is based on a character's role and the type of encounter they are facing.^[147]^[148]

The goal is to not have overarching best-in-slot items that are meta for all situations.^[147]

Crafted items are best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation.^[149] Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with best-in-slot items.^[150]

Instanced content will contain scripted and difficult boss fights that drop gear, but the gear drops will not be best-in-slot. These can only be found in the open world.^[151]

Class weapons and armor

Weapons and armor are not class locked, but certain classes are more efficient with certain types of weapons or armor.^[2]^[5]^[6]^[7] Certain abilities require certain items to be equipped.^[152]

Weapons are intended to be somewhat agnostic in the sense that you can find a way for a weapon to be utilized by different classes. Not just the rogue is going to be able to use daggers. Because if you restrict equipment through that, it makes the economy more difficult to have sustainability across the market of items.^[7] – Steven Sharif

Q: We had stated that we were going to allow people to use any class combination, which would be both your archetypes together, being able to use any weapon. Do we see problems that could occur with that, for instance like a bow tank, or an orb tank or things like- will there be some strangeness there, or are there problems that you first are foreseeing in the future?

A: We're giving a lot of flexibility to the crafters in our game. They get to help define the stat block that a particular item, weapon, or gear has; and that stat block can be relevant to any particular class or archetype combination. So in that sense the idea is, no not to see any strangeness there or not to see any elements that would dissuade a person from that customization perspective.^[153] – Steven Sharif

Racial weapons and armor

Armor racial appearances in early Alpha-1.^[154]

Violet light and myself are wearing exactly the same armor set right: Same stats, same everything, but it drops for her it looks one way, it drops for me it looks another way; and... a small part of that is gender, but then the other part of it is race. So because I was a Vaelune in that playthrough my armor was in the Vaelune style; and when she picked it up it was in the elven style because she was an elf. So that gives you an example of sort of the breadth of looks that we're going for and how we try to capture like who you are as as a character and allow you to build your look that way.^[155] – Jeffrey Bard

Dünir and Empyrean racially styled armor concept art by Keith Kovach.^[156]

We have essentially sets that exist across all races; and each race that dons those armor sets is going to have their own racial influence on the presentation of those particular sets. So that's something that's unique in how each of the races get diversified.^[157] – Steven Sharif

Weapons and armor are not race locked, but armor will take on a racial appearance.^[157]^[158]^[159]

The customization of equipment per race is really focused on Armor sets not Weapon props. Weapon props will, from a model standpoint, will translate pretty one-to-one across the races.^[160] – Steven Sharif

Racial appearance of gear is focused on Armor. Weapons will not change in appearance but will scale in size based on race.^[161]^[160]

Let's say for example you have the Eagle set or something, right: The Eagle set has in art, it has a thematic design that's going to include certain attachments to the armor. It's going to include color palette and theme. It's going to have some aspects to it that define it as the Eagle set, right. When a Elf wears the Eagle set or when an Orc wears the Eagle set, you obviously have two different cultures there; and you don't want to stomp out that culture by assigning a de facto 'This is the Eagle set and this is how it looks on everybody.' What we want to have is cultural influences play a role in showing how that set looks.^[160] – Steven Sharif

Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.^[107]

When you say, what if I'm an Orc but want to look like an Elf and I want my Eagle set to be the Elf representation? Well the issue becomes there that Orcs have a different organic model. You know, their body is different than that of the Elf. So, from a scope-creep standpoint, it's one thing to add different influences that represent the cultures that are donning the armor; it's another thing to adapt each influence as a matrix that can be worn pretty much by everything. From a scope perspective, that's a very difficult task for the character artists to tackle. So instead what we've done is, in order to facilitate a variety of cultural representation between the races but allow for the sharing of assets like different armor sets, we give different representations of those armor sets to each race.^[107] – Steven Sharif

Crafted gear

Crafting UI. Alpha-1 screenshot. Image credit: Guild:Overlord

Crafted items (also referred to as Completed items, Finished goods, or Final products) are items produced by crafter artisans using crafting stations.^[16]^[162]^[163]^[149]^[164]^[165]

Completed items can be accessed by players in warehouses at any node regardless of citizenship or housing ownership.^[15]^[16]^[14]
Crafted gear is considered best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation.^[149]
- Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with boss dropped items.^[166]^[167]^[150]
- Crafters will be able to assign different skills/abilities and stats on gear.^[142]^[143]
  - Master crafters will be able to influence several (but not all) stats on their crafted items.^[142]^[144]

Crafted gear in the game is the best gear... One thing that I'm not a fan of is that you develop a crafting system in a game and you've spent a lot of time making this from a material and resource perspective. All the tables that you can receive, all the connectivity in the economy and how crafting is associated with the game; and then you undermine the crafting entirely by presenting a separate route of gear acquisition that is on-par with the crafting efforts. So here you have these people who are acquiring all of the resources getting, all the recipes, leveling up their professions and then everything they make is less or equal to anything you could just have chosen the easier path of and gone down the questing and received the best gear. So what we do focus on is that crafters make the best shit. Excuse me, the best things.^[149] – Steven Sharif

The rarity of crafted items will be commensurate with the effort required to gather, process and craft the items.^[150]
- Stats on crafted items will vary based on the item's rarity.^[145]

That plays into our crafting system in and of itself. The idea is for those stats to be variables that can be dictated based on the mastery level of the particular crafter; and the higher they become a master of those professions, whether it be for armor or for weapons or for accessories, they're going to have some agency and put their mark on essentially what items they're introducing into the economy.^[145] – Steven Sharif

Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items will look like.^[142]^[168]
- At the moment, harnessing corruption to warp items into demonic or decayed things is not on the cards.^[169]
- A crafter's name is embedded in the items they craft.^[170]

We believe that every item that exists in the world should in some way reflect its creator. As such, there will be extreme versatility in our crafting system – giving crafters the ability to create unique items that represent their strengths and weaknesses.^[171]

Gear inspection

You decide to gank the player, but find out that you have been ambushed!^[172]

Players will have a buff on their nameplate that indicates the gear set they are wearing. Other players will be able to see this buff by targeting that player at a distance.^[173]^[63]^[174]

This will indicate the type of armor (cloth, leather, plate) that they are predominantly wearing.^[61]^[63]

You can target a player. You're going to see what type of armor they have based on a buff they have available to them because obviously cosmetics can change appearance. You might have different silhouettes as a result of that.^[61] – Steven Sharif

The border will indicate the level and quality of the tier set.^[173]^[63]^[175]
- This also indicates if the gear is enchanted, along with visual effects associated with enchanted items.^[63]^[176]^[175]
The developers believe that inspecting gear to obtain an exact equipment list or gear score may lead to "unwelcome behavior".^[177]

When you see a player approaching you and they're wearing a transmog you don't know if that person is a high damage mitigation against physical damage or against magical damage and essentially the way we overcome that is through you being able to target a player at a distance and they will have a buff that's present on them that you will see, which indicates that essentially the piece set that they are wearing. It is important for players to be able to ascertain from a threat assessment standpoint what they're going up against if they're actively checking that, and that will be available.^[174] – Steven Sharif

Item durability

The decay system is not going to be some worthless "Oh I'm just going to throw some gold into this and it's a simple gold sink". It's actually going to require some base materials in order to repair decayed items; and decay occurs from death and also the destruction and disable system. For the weapons over the over-enchanting will require those materials as well. So creating that dependency I think is healthy for the crafting economy.^[178] – Steven Sharif

There is item durability (item decay) in Ashes of Creation.^[179]

Item durability loss occurs on death.^[180]^[178]^[181]
- Gear stored in a player's inventory (that is not equipped) does not lose durability when that player dies.^[182]

Materials are required in order to restore the performance of decayed items.^[183]^[180]^[178]^[184]^[185]

Item decay does not destroy items, but it acts as an materials sink.^[186]^[180]^[179]
- Zero percent durability will unequip an item, significantly increasing its repair costs.^[187]

If you allow it to get to certain stages, or to get to a destructed stage then it requires a lot of material components in order to return back to its former glory.^[183] – Steven Sharif

Over enchanting an item comes with the risk of durability loss if a safety margin is exceeded.^[178]^[188]^[189]

There is durability in the game... It's not going to be a trivial durability. There is a potential to destroy gear (weapons and armor), but there is also an ability to reforge that destroyed gear using a portion of the materials necessary as well as finding an item creator who can reforge it.^[179] – Steven Sharif

Item repair

Blacksmithing concept art.^[190]

For example: if you have an iron sword and then the sword gets damaged from use, you have to use more iron to repair it; and what that does is... make sure that there's significant sinks in the game for base materials so that you are creating a scarcity and demand that's present on the creation of higher goods as well as supplying the necessary decay components for the world.^[185] – Steven Sharif

Item repair will cost crafting materials.^[180]^[185]^[179]

0% durability will unequip items, increasing its repair cost.^[187]
Damaged gear can be reforged at a player stall using a portion of the materials that were necessary to craft the item.^[178]^[184]^[185]
There may be additional constraints for repairing "very unique items", such as having a crafter and recipe to effectuate repairs. This is subject to testing.^[186]
There is no limit to the number of times an item can be repaired.^[191]

There will be ways to repair destructible structures (such as walls and gates) and also repair (or re-craft) siege weapons that were damaged during sieges.^[192]

This is a long term design goal that was not present during Alpha-1.^[192]

There's a lot of ancillary activities that can be had during sieges... It's obviously strategy and tactics and raid-versus-raid components, but also you want to have individual contributions where players can do things during the siege to aid in the greater effort so to speak; and it doesn't require you having 50 people by your side to effectuate that influence over something. So repairs are great ways to do that. Repairs for walls, repairs for gates, being able to spawn and essentially craft the designs for specific types of siege weapons to provide those to the team.^[192] – Steven Sharif

Gear appearance

Alpha-1 female plate armor 3D render.^[193]

We want to be realistic with the application of particular types of armor, such as plate armor. In this regard for the different sexes there's a fine line that has to be drawn between accentuating the form of the sex as well as making it somewhat realistic and actually applicable to the environment.^[193] – Steven Sharif

Gear is intended to be realistic in appearance.^[194]^[195]

There will not be "oversized" weapons.^[196]
Armor will not be overly sexual in appearance.^[195]
I'm more of the mind that it wouldn't really serve a purpose to have bikini plate armor, just in like reality, if you're going to have armor, it should be protective. I think from a fashion statement is enjoyable for some people, but it's a an immersive issue.^[194] – Steven Sharif
- Some armor and costumes will be more revealing than others, but there will not be nudity in the game.^[197]
There might be sliders, but there are not gonna be naked sliders.^[197] – Steven Sharif

Armor will take on a racial appearance.^[160] Weapons will scale in size based on race.^[161]

Each race is getting its custom geo pieces, which then will share thematic components such as color palette, attachments, design filigree. Those types of things will get shared across the geo but generally you're going to see unique races with unique geo.^[198] – Steven Sharif

Cosmetics can be used by all races but there may be slight variations to make them work with the body builds of each race.^[199]

Players can change gear colors using dyes.^[200]^[201]

Helmet display can be toggled on and off.^[52]

Hair will likely be masked if helmet display is toggled on.^[202]

Particle effects are used to denote the importance and rarity of some weapons.^[203]

Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items will look like.^[142]^[168]

Weapons are able to be sheathed.^[67]^[82]

Appearance slots/Transmogs

Alpha-2 plate armor set 3D renders. 3D model by Jan-Allen Cauton.^[204]

Gear will have appearance slots (Transmutation/Transmog/cosmetic slots) that are used to copy the appearance of an item (in some cases).^[205]^[10]

There are rules when applying cosmetics to specific items, unlike costumes, which don't have level restrictions.^[206]
Cosmetic slots can be toggled on or off on their character by the player.^[207]
A "default player appearance" may be automatically applied during sieges or other large scale battles to improve client-side performance.^[208]^[209]

Cosmetics, whether purchased from the shop or earned in game, are an important component of MMORPGS I personally enjoy; and there's a lot of collectors out there who spend a great deal of time either in-game achieving these things or spend money purchasing them from the cosmetic only marketplace; and we don't want to demean or reduce that achievement or that expenditure. So it's going to be situational where the default appearance will be applied and can be activated.^[208] – Steven Sharif

Attachments

Attachments are able to be unlocked as flair pieces to armor to create a customizable look.^[210]

There will be hundreds of attachments available ranging from a small clasp to the front plate of a breast plate.^[210]

Costumes

Vestments of the Runecarvers pre-order pack cosmetic costume.^[211]

The costume cosmetics that are included in each month's pre-order set are indeed a full piece, and when you put it on it will cover your entire appearance. You will not be able to mix and match/toggle those pieces individually (other than your helmet) when you're wearing the entire costume. This is partially why there is a separate category for accessories - those are able to be worn/equipped on a more individualized basis, so you can mix and match to your liking!^[212] – Sarah Flanagan

Costumes are available for purchase from the cosmetic store.^[213]

They do not include any weapons pictured.^[214]
Costumes are one piece outfits that cover all gear slots regardless of armor type.^[215]^[212]^[216]^[217]^[218]

Full costumes do not mix and match pieces.^[218] – Steven Sharif

Costumes don't have a level restriction or require an in-game item to be obtained first.^[219]^[206]
Costumes are not gender or race locked, but can adapt based on a character's gender and race.^[220]^[221]^[199]^[222]
- Racial skins appear along with any costume appearances.^[223]^[224]
All hoods and head slot items, whether part of a complete costume or individual gear, will have the option to be shown or hidden on the character by the player.^[225]^[212]^[226]

Dyeable items

Dyes only affect tagged portions of dyeable armor or cosmetic items.^[227]

The dyeability of costumes depends on the specific costume.^[227]

Outside of wanting to keep maybe some identity from a lore perspective; for example if you have like a white lion's suit of armor, you may not want that white lion suit of armor to be black or blue. So, it's possible. It depends on the costume itself.^[227] – Steven Sharif

Artisan gear

Artisan gear will boost artisans in their gathering, processing, or crafting professions.^[77]^[228]

Artisan gear may be able to be equipped in an undergarment slot that can be toggled between adventuring gear and artisan gear.^[77]
The developers are planning to have artisan gear sets available for Alpha-2.^[77]
Gathering tools and artisan gear have stats that affect gathering rates and yields.^[229]^[230]

Gear for artisans are going to live alongside your adventuring gear. So you will currently- the approaches, and we'll test this but currently- the approach is you'll have artisanship oriented gear. This might be beneficial for your gathering; it might be beneficial for your processing, or crafting, or whatever it is- your profession. Essentially you will craft that gear, you will equip that gear, it'll live almost as a undergarment slot so to speak; and then you can activate that and it will show the appearance if you wish during the activation when you gain the benefit from the from the gear itself; and then could disappear afterwards and go back to your adventuring gear. That's the current approach. We're going to play with that a little bit. There's some discussion and disagreement on the team about how we do that, but our hopes are for Alpha two, we will have I think a couple of sets at least. We're demonstrating all of the artisanship from gathering to processing to crafting in limited fashion in Alpha 2 want to have that gear present to play with this approach.^[77]