هحلسالا

Spellbooks, Daggers, Spell focuses, Maces, Wands, and Spears 3D renders in Ashes of Creation.

Our approach for weapons within Ashes of Creation is that weapons are not just stat sticks. They have different feels as was demonstrated both in the melee examples with the great sword and the daggers as well as now with the longbow and the short bow. These changes can be pacing, they could be speed, they can be critical rates, they can be critical damage, they can be base damage values, they can be separate effects- like the longbow has a charge up on its basic attack whereas the short bow doesn't. There's more motion in the greatsword than there is necessarily in the daggers. The idea is because each weapon type has an associated weapon tree for progression. We almost want each of these weapon groups to feel distinct in the way they play and because of that it touches a lot of different aspects of a combat for them. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 mace 3D turntable.

هحلسالا determine a player's damage output alongside other conditions and stats.

• Choice of weapon type changes the feel, pacing, speed, and other aspects of combat. Further specialization is achievable within each weapon's skill tree.

• 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 be automatically swapped in and out as required by the skill.

• Players can select which weapon they wish to use as their primary weapon for basic attacks.

Some abilities will require that certain pieces of equipment are equipped.That's true for melee abilities like a shield bash requiring a shield to be equipped, or certain ranged abilities requiring a ranged weapon to be equipped as well. It's important to note that as part of the Ashes of Creation paper doll, you have a melee main hand, an offhand slot, and then you have a ranged slot as well, so you don't have to switch between weapons per-se if you execute an ability that requires a ranged weapon, but if you have your melee weapon out it will automatically swap to the range weapon and use the ability and then back to your melee weapon for your basic attack should you choose; and then you can select which weapon you want to have available your melee or your range for the basic attack and you can swap between those two even in combat, but they're they're still equipped. – Steven Sharif

• The bulk of a weapon's power comes from its crafting recipe and the materials used in its construction.

Q: What percentage of an weapon's power will be defined specifically by blueprint materials, character skill, the station and region where it was crafted, and by the player's own selective inputs?

A: A big chunk of it going to come from the static recipe value. That's going to drive a lot of the stat block; and then as we saw here, you will be able to influence the quality of the recipe and the distribution of stats within the stat block based on the components that are dedicated to the craft. So, that presents a wide variety of potential output from a single recipe. recipes have the ability to gain experience. You can unlock different results through different compositional contributions of resources; and that in and of itself is an exploration progression that crafters will have access to. – Steven Sharif

• The developers are considering per-use consumables/buffs that can be applied to weapons that applies certain rider effects to basic weapon attacks.

• Weapons with alternate healing functionality are being considered by the design team.

Spear and Shield 3D renders. 3D model by Chris Atkins.

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

• Axes (One and two handed).
• Bows.
• Clubs.
• Daggers.
• Hammers.
• Lances.
• Maces (One and two handed).
• Orbs.
• Polearms/Halberds.
• Scepters.
• Shields.
• Spears (One-handed).
• Spellbooks.
• Staves.
• Swords/Rapiers (One and two handed).
• Wands.

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

• Crossbows will not be in the MMO.
  • Previously crossbows were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.
• Potion launchers will only be able to be used as ship attachments in the MMO.
  • Previously potion launchers were present in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse.

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

There is an even split between melee and ranged weapons.

Weapon targeting

Ranger hybrid combat in Alpha-2.

Our desire has always and continues to be how we can create a mixture of tab target abilities and skill-shot oriented positional, directional-based ability usage and make something cohesive in that design. And I think that what we're achieving with that regard may not fully feel like an action-oriented game, but we've always intended to be more hybrid-oriented, leaning towards tab target. So you're going to see a mixture of abilities that require the targets and that don't; and then you're going to have an option as the player's perspective to utilize an action camera mode, which utilizes a soft target lock feature and our reticle. – Steven Sharif

Hard-locked friendly player target.

Hybrid combat refers to the choice between tab and action combat in Ashes of Creation. A toggle button (default Z, but can be re-bound to another key) allows the player to switch between action and tab combat modes.

• The action mode camera is tied to the to the player's reticle (crosshair).
  • There will likely be a hotkey that when held down will allow free camera movement in action mode.
  • In future the user will have the ability to choose from different reticle appearances.

• Targeted skills require either a soft or hard locked target.
  • Soft locking is when the reticle moves over a valid target while in action mode. The targeting plate will appear slightly grayed out to indicate that this is a soft-lock target. If the reticle moves away from the target or the target moves away from the reticle, the target is lost.
  • Hard locking is when the player uses right-mouse on a soft-locked target in action mode, or when the player selects a valid target in tab mode. The targeting plate will not be grayed-out to indicate that a hard-lock target is selected. Unlike soft locking, if the target moves out of the reticle, the target is not lost. Tab will still cycle between hard-locked targets in action mode based on proximity priority.

• Templated skills allow "blind firing" without a target while in action mode. If an entity moves into the path of the attack they can be struck.

Q: Is the development team moving away from action combat, or is action combat more prevalent with the melee classes, and the healing/range classes are more tab-target other than AoE spells?

A: We have not moved away from our hybrid approach to the development of Ashes of Creation's combat; and specifically to reiterate: that approach is incorporating elements of skill shots, fast and reactive gameplay that is situationally relevant, and incorporates the camera mode of both tab-targeting as well as action combat reticle. That's something that is still in progress. We haven't moved away from that however. To note, our approach of that hybridization is going to incorporate things like templated skill-shots, directionally relevant activated abilities, along with the ability to dodge to roll projectiles that can impact collision. Those are elements of action combat that are present. – Steven Sharif

Templated and targeted versions of skills will have different characteristics.

Skill progressions, skill point allocation is determined by the player. The player will be able to choose either more tab-target oriented skills or more action-based skills and customize their playable experience to what accommodates their preference. From a balancing standpoint for us developers, we need to make sure that certain abilities house certain functions so that there's a balance between skill shots and tab-target abilities. – Steven Sharif

• Targeted skills will be greyed out if the target is not within a valid range but templated skills will generally require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.

• Different ranks of the same skill can change the skill from tab to action or vice-versa.
  • Variables will change based on which version of a skill is chosen.
    • Damage.
    • Charge up time.
    • Accuracy.
    • Evasion.
    • Crowd control.
    • Cooldown.
    • Energy consumption.
    • Cost to spec.
    • Attack range will likely remain the same; as it is driven by the weapon or skill itself.

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

• It may not be possible to be able to fully spec into just action or tab targeted skills. There might be a 75% cap on choosing skills from any one type.
• For the purposes of balance, certain skill types will be either tab or action oriented skills.
  • Hard CCs may be housed in action oriented skills because they are skill shots that are more difficult to land.
  • Softer CC's would be housed in tab-targeted abilities.

As an example: Let's say you're playing a ranged class. You could have an action-oriented power shot in your skill tree or you could have a single target power shot that ramps up and does more damage. – Steven Sharif

Forward attack cone (cleaving)

Weapon attack cone in Alpha-1.

As I attack I am hitting multiple numbers of these opponents; and that's important because all weapons, regardless of whether you are in reticle mode or tab-targeting mode will be able to have a action-based type weapon attack. Not active skill, but weapon attack. – Steven Sharif

All weapons have a forward attack cone, regardless of being in tab or action mode.

• The cone's arc and distance will vary based on weapon type.

Polearms for example will have a much wider arc and much further out. Daggers will have a more fine-tuned arc, so you have to be more precise in that regard. – Steven Sharif

This is described as a weapon attack not an active skill.

• It was previously stated that cleaving will be a class ability for some classes.

Class weapons and armor

هحلسالا and armor are not class locked, but certain classes are more efficient with certain types of weapons or armor. Certain abilities require certain items to be equipped.

• Ranged weapons.
• Shields.
• Two-handed weapons.

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. – 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. – Steven Sharif

Racial weapons and armor

عرد racial appearances in early Alpha-1.

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. – Jeffrey Bard

Dünir and Empyrean racially styled armor concept art by Keith Kovach.

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. – Steven Sharif

هحلسالا and armor are not race locked, but armor will take on a racial appearance.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Racial appearance of gear is focused on عرد. هحلسالا will not change in appearance but will scale in size based on race.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.

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. – Steven Sharif

Q: Since a single armor set will look different on each race, how will we have large varieties of in-game achievable gear for each race if we have to make nine different looks for each set?

A: The approach for that is to create a modular piece set for armor creation; and the way we achieve that is by two steps: So, on the modeling side, each race has these geo sets basically where you're creating pieces of the armor for heavy plate armor, for medium, for robes; and you get to grab those modular pieces and mix and match as design makes a request for a particular set to the art teams. So, design comes along and they say, "hey we have a theme for a set that we want to create", so let's use Carphin in that example; and that theme from design's standpoint is going to include color, it's going to include materials, it's going to have an etymology for the set to give a background so that they can incorporate certain types of attachments- whatever they want to include on the art side. Then, the character team says, "okay let's take our base sets of geo and let's mix and match those pieces to create the Carphin set and then we're going to do a materials pass on it, and then we're going to do a color pass on it"; and that way we have a lot of essentially pieces of the puzzle to create these many different unique sets. Now we can also deform pieces across from race to race. So, even if we create unique geo on a per-race basis, we can grab the pauldron from the Human set and put it onto the Vek representation; and the end game there is that we have a particular set, for example Carphin, and that Carphin is communicating the theme; and when you don the armor for the Carphin set- you've acquired the Carphin set and you put it on- it is going to look Vek if you're a Vek. It is going to look Kaelar if you're a Kaelar, but it is still going to have the identity and the theme of the Carphin set. – Steven Sharif

Gear slots

Alpha-2 Fighter character sheet UI.

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. – Colby Marchi

There are multiple gear slots in Ashes of Creation.

• 3 Back slots.
  • 1 Ranged slot.
  • 1 Cloak/cape slot.
  • 1 Backpack slot.

• 3 Belt slots.
  • 1 Mainhand slot equips a player's primary weapon.
  • 1 Offhand slot can equip shields, spell focuses, sigils, and dual weapons.
  • 1 Potion/Pouch/Scroll slot.

• 8 عرد slots.
  • 1 Helmet slot.
  • 1 Shoulder slot.
  • 1 Chest slot.
  • 1 Wrist slot.
  • 1 Glove slot.
  • 1 Waist slot.
  • 1 Leggings slot.
  • 1 Boot slot.
• 5 Jewelry slots.
  • 2 Accessory slots.
  • 1 Necklace slot.
  • 2 Ring slots.
• 3 Artisan gear slots.
• 1 Artisan tool slot is used to equip gathering tools.
• There may be a specific slot for musical instruments, but this has not been finalized yet.

• Previously it was stated there were 16 gear slots.

• Gear is not subject to inventory weight limits.

Items on back and belt

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show in their Back and Belt slots.

• Only one item can show at a time, and that is determined by player choice.

• 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.
  • Players may toggle back and forth between using their ranged and melee slot for basic weapon attacks.

• هحلسالا are able to be sheathed.

• Idle animations will be selectible by players in the character creator.

Ranged weapons

Alpha-2 bows 3D renders.

A character may equip up to two hand weapons and also wear a ranged weapon on their back.

• 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.
• 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.
• Rangers do not have a minimum distance requirement for using their ranged weapons. Previously rangers were intended to have a minimum distance requirement.
  • Instead of a minimum range requirement, certain Ranger skills, such as Thundering Shot, currently have variable effects conferred at different ranges.
• Some Ranger skills require a bow to be equipped.

Melee weapons

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

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. – Steven Sharif

Melee weapons and abilities have a maximum range of effect.

• There are two melee weapon slots: One on each side of a character's belt.

Dual wielding

Dual daggers 3D render. 3D model by Carson Steil, concept by Jeff Delierre.

Dual wielding will be permitted for selected one handed weapons.

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

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. – Steven Sharif

Weapon swapping

Alpha-2 Mage swapping from a Greatsword to a Wand while in combat.

• It is possible to store and swap gear loadouts with a single hotkey button press when out of combat.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Artisan gear and adventuring gear do not need to be swapped for either to be effective when they are equipped on a character.

• Switching weapons is possible while in combat but armor cannot be swapped while in combat.
  • Previously it was stated that swapping weapons (from inventory) into a hand or range slot is not possible in combat. 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.

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. – Steven Sharif

Guns and gunpowder

The Gilded Galleon pre-order pack cosmetic ship skin.

The potion launcher idea will be incorporated as part of how cannons operate on ships; and these will be very large potion launchers obviously. The storage of this ammunitions are going to be very important as well... It's not going to be the same potion every time. You can equip the cannon with different types of potions that have different types of effects from a munitions standpoint; and I think that's going to provide a very cool gameplay because as you see the different color of the trail that's coming out of the potion launched, you'll be aware of what your adversary is using and how that affects your ship; and you'll be able to counter based on maneuverability, based on whatever you want to counter that with. I think that's going to present a very interesting dynamic to the attacks with these ships. – Steven Sharif

Gunpowder (black powder) weapons will not be present in Ashes of Creation.

• نفسلا will utilize a larger form of potion launcher in place of canons. These canons will be able to be equipped with different potions that have different effects.

I previously said there was not going to be gunpowder in Ashes. What there will be is something very similar to gunpowder but has a more arcane nature to it. It's not necessarily going to be explainable through the conventional means of chemistry, metallurgy, and physics and what not, but rather the Essence is the core component of many types of magic, one of which is obviously going to be evocation type magic; and that evocation can have some explosive tendencies. – Steven Sharif

Weaponry such as Potion launchers, Siege weapons and weapons used in هيرحب لاتق are based on the arcane arts.

• The elements (evocation magic).
• The use of radiance and darkness.

As we said in the past, were not really about that black powder life. Instead it's really going to be focused on the arcane arts: The elements; the use of radiance and darkness; and then those being employed in larger weaponry, such as the type of siege weaponry between ship battles as well as those and sieges. A potion launcher is an example of the arcane energies that can be mastered in order to facilitate these highly destructive alchemical blends that can be created. – Steven Sharif

Weapon progression

In-game achievable sword and polearm 3D renders.

Power creep is a balance issue... When it comes to gear progression specifically, the idea is to create an open market that is not heavily dependent on soulbound items; and having many item sinks and gold sinks within that economy that allows for the potential degradation and loss of assets within that closed economy; and not introduce items from the market that companies put in from a pay-to-win perspective or from a pay-to-convenience perspective that undermines the economy that players have built. That is a huge mistake that companies have made in the past and that lends to the imbalancing of what designers maybe have actually balanced well. – Steven Sharif

هحلسالا have their own progression paths.

• Each type of weapon has its own skill tree that grants passive skills and proc effects and other status conditions.
• The weapon combo system determines special effects that proc based on weapon progression.
• Ancillary effects proc based on enchantment types.
• Gear enhancements (power stones) can be applied to add elemental or energy types of damage.
• Dual wielded weapons will have its own progression based on weapon type.
• Weapon proficiency (based on length of use of a weapon) is not a planned feature.

Ashes of Creation is all about providing many progression paths... The reason why we don't like the term endgame is because with the amount of progression that's available with the amount of diversity and player agency that impacts the world... We want the weapon system [to] add an element of that as well... You can determine special effects that proc from currently the combo system; you can determine ancillary effects that proc based on enchantment types; you can power stone weapons to add different either elemental types of damage and/or energy that play rock-paper-scissor with player defenses ... and then you can skill tree out how those effects that are granted ... you can make them better you can branch them off into a different direction. – Steven Sharif

Gear enhancement

Gear enhancements are possible both during and after an item is crafted.

There is a combination of systems that take an item to its max potential. Players will need to contribute in a certain number of these systems to reach max. Some of the systems are an either/or situation. – Kory Rice

• Crafting recipes can be enhanced by adding higher rarity or different crafting materials into their selectable crafting slots at crafting stations.

• Enchantment scrolls and tempering allow gear to be enhanced post-crafting.

• The bulk of a weapon's power comes from its crafting recipe and the materials used in its construction.

The contribution of materials to crafting an item results in advancing the rarity of that item. Now, that doesn't exclude players who don't have the legendary or the higher quality contributed resources from progressing their common item up the rarity tree through enchantments such as scroll enchanting or through tempering the gear. Both of those can affect the quality and the rarity of the gear that you produce, but by contributing the resources during the crafting process you are getting a head start with the higher quality item and now are less dependent on those other avenues to achieve that, which might be again a different vertical space of progression that you don't have as good of access to. – Steven Sharif

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

• Runes/Power stones are a potential methods for enhancing weapons.
• Enchantment stones are potential rewards for performance over six month PvP seasons. These grant temporary pvP-focused benefits to gear (via a socketing system).

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.

• Enchantment scrolls can be sold on the open market.

• Enchanting does not increase an item's level requirement.

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. – Steven Sharif

Power creep

The developers intend to limit power creep via item sinks, the lack of gear binding, and the absence of pay-to-win or pay-to-convenience in Ashes of Creation.

Weapon use combo system

Alpha-2 greatsword weapon combo animation.

Whenever you get stab hits on the third and the fourth hit, those are actually procs. So, if you connect with the second hit of that proc hit you'll receive the additional effects, but you actually have to connect with a monster or player to receive the effect; and I think the proc rate is at a static 25 percent right now. We're looking at other ways to scale that. Maybe it scales with a stat, or maybe it scales with additional nodes, but right now it's kind of low. – Brian Ferguson

A weapon combo system (also referred to as Weapon use combo, Weapon attack combo, Weapon combo, and Weapon use ability) is utilized instead of a traditional auto-attack ability in Ashes of Creation.

• The combo system consists of a sequence of combat animations based on the weapon type, referred to as a combat animation montage.
  • Combos are triggered by performing basic weapon attacks (default Q or left-mouse-click).

Let's say for example you're using a two-handed warhammer or something and you have a number of weapon combos that play animation style based on how many combos deep you go into an attack with that warhammer. So the first is going to be like a forward swing. Second is going to be a back swing. The third is going to be swing down and the fourth is going to be some twirl that you do; and that's what we call the combo animation montage. – Steven Sharif

• The number of steps and passive effects that trigger during weapon combos can be customized in the weapon skill tree.

We wanted to have a combo length progression available to players so that certain builds could have longer weapon combos and other builds can have shorter weapon combos with more passive effects.; and this has been the result of our exploration. So, when you start out you've got a pretty quick four-hit combo, but whenever you unlock the additional hits you get the fifth and sixth hits, which are at approximately 50% to the overall combo length. But we found that that gave a pretty satisfying floor and ceiling to how long the combo can be. – Brian Ferguson

• Depending on class skill choice these effects will have synergy with the combat montage.

Depending on what your class skill choice has been those are going to have synergy effects with the weapon skill tree. So my skill called spin-to-win might do 30 additional damage on a staggered target. So I see when my proc occurs with the stagger effect on my first swing, like for me as a player I might be only interested in landing that first swing, so every now and then I'm gonna swing once and then I'm gonna use a skill and then I'm gonna come back and swing again because that'll play my first swing montage, because it's been interrupted. So I won't move to the second one because I'm really just wanna hit that stagger effect. So that's going to be how my rotation lines up. However I might have some skill that on a stun target it might be an immediate cast and it's like some power you push or power hit; and that does- it knocks back a stun target. So if the target's stunned when this skill plays, it has an added effect of knock down and now they're gonna get knocked down for an additional two seconds. Now I might spec into that and as a result I want to finish through: swing, swing, and then knock down. So I get my chance at stunning that target with that weapon skill. – Steven Sharif

• Weapon progression such as set bonuses may change at what level any proc effects occur and therefore enable different combo rotations.

You may have items or set bonuses that change at what level those proc occurs. So I may have a full set of battle armor that changes all third hit combo procs to second hit requirements and now I have a chance not only on my second hit to land that tapering slow but I also have a chance to land my one second stun proc because I have the full set that changes my weapon progression. So that's the way itemization works with your weapon skill tree, is you can enhance when those weapon skill trees become available in your combat montage and that can be a relevant factor in how your skill rotations come to play; and mixes with your weapon attacks.

• Weapon skill choices and rotations will vary based on whether the player is more focused on pvP or PvE.

Right now some people might just say, "I don't care at all about my weapon attacks. I'm not going to invest a lot of points into that. And if I do, it's going to be primarily PvE focused where I'm more comfortable using just swinging my weapon, and I may not use them as much in PvP. I'm just going to be focused on skill rotations." That's okay, but the reason for those skill montages- back to your question- is they have a very relevant role in when certain procs come online from a weapons skill tree perspective. – Steven Sharif

• Using a skill/ability other than a basic attack will in general reset the combo.
  • The developers are considering specific abilities that might be able to be used without resetting the combo system.

It acts similar in the sense of the core loop of what an auto attack is so to speak; where typically your other skills have a cooldown period, they have a rotation or whatever: Our combo system is a repeatable skill effect that you can continually attack with but it's a little bit more involved than what a traditional auto attack is; and it has components from a from an advancement standpoint when it comes to the types of procs that your weapon can have during that combo system... It's not going to have the quick time event that you guys saw early on in PAX and gave great feedback on, but it is going to have development with regards to the power of the weapon the type of weapon you're using, the additional proc effects that you can skill into: Those types of things are going to make it a little bit more complex of a system capture. – Steven Sharif

Weapon use combo system status

The weapon combo system plays heavily into the weapon skill trees, which are planned for Alpha-2 and beyond.

• The weapon use ability that was originally shown at PAX West 2017 was reduced to a basic form in Alpha-0. The new combo system will not have the quicktime event that was seen in PAX West 2017.
• A revised weapon combo system was present in Alpha-1. This was referred to as Combo system, Combat skills, and Combat tree.

Legendary items

There is a small RNG chance of looting rare and legendary items or crafting materials from mobs based on the level, status and type of mob. This also applies to harvesting resources with a gathering profession.

• There is a much higher chance that materials and unique recipes are dropped that can be used to craft items of equitable value.
• Legendary equipment is only dropped by Legendary world bosses.
  • Legendary equipment will have a roughly 6-12% improvement in base stats, subject to testing and balancing.

At each stage from Gatherer to Processor to Crafter you are required to have certain prerequisites before those elite types of materials can be essentially gathered, processed, or crafted. – Steven Sharif

• Gatherers must have high quality tools to gather rare resources.
• Processors must have high tier processing buildings on their freehold to produce rare materials.
• Crafters must also satisfy certain prerequisites to craft legendary equipment.

The amount of effort needed and interdependencies across the different types of players – between raiders and PvPers and crafters and even role players and the taverns and businesses: the processors and gatherers – all of those systems will likely have a component that lends toward creating or crafting that legendary item... We want to stay away from the highly RNGd system, and instead take our multiple progression paths that we are offering the players and put the construction components for achieving these legendary items within them so it encourages communities to work together because it's going to be difficult for just one person by themselves to gather everything. Not to say that they couldn't in an economic sense, by buying those components, that's possible. But achieving them from a time investment standpoint we want it to be considerably less RNG focussed. – Steven Sharif

Certain legendary items may be limited to one per server at any given time.

• If the player character leaves the server then the item will become available for acquisition through whatever means it was acquired previously.

There are absolutely legendary items and they're not items that are attained easily nor are they granted out in a volume. There might even be items that are single items that will exist on the server at any given time.

A legendary weapon is easily distinguished by its visual appearance.

It will be a very ornate and detailed weapon, more so than any other weapon or piece of equipment in the game. It will also include some awesome looking effects that won't too gaudy, they won't be too bright and shiny so that it doesn't look good, but they will be subtle and people will notice it and know wow that guy has this weapon. – Steven Sharif

Legendary items are not intended to be temporary.

• A notable exception to this is Royal mounts.

The fact there is only one of them... or very very few of them depending on what it is. I think that in and of itself is a balance component right and you need to make sure that the players who are striving for those legendary things and who are devoting the time energy, resources in order to achieve them are accurately rewarded... We do not intend on having legendary items that are temporary. – Steven Sharif

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

Discovery of legendary items will unlock further chapters of the ملعلا.

Gear sets

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

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. – Steven Sharif

Equipping the Titanbark gear set in Alpha-2.

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. – Steven Sharif

Gear sets (also known as tier sets) are a part of Ashes of Creation.

• In general, higher tier gear will be from gear sets.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Players gain bonuses depending on the number and tier of pieces they have equipped.
  • An overarching set effect is granted to wearers of exclusively one "type" of armor, for example: all cloth, or all plate.
  • There may be set bonuses that members of certain communities will obtain based on gear set type.
  • 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.

• Racial appearance of gear sets is tied to the character model of that race.

• It will be possible to store and swap gear loadouts with a single button press when out of combat.

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

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

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

Best in slot weapons

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

• The goal is to not have overarching best-in-slot items that are meta for all situations.

• Crafted items are best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation. Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with best-in-slot items.

• 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.

Gear appearance

Alpha-1 female plate armor 3D render.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Gear is intended to be realistic in appearance.

• There will not be "oversized" weapons.

• Armor will not be overly sexual in appearance.

  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. – Steven Sharif

  • Some armor and costumes will be more revealing than others, but there will not be nudity in the game.

  There might be sliders, but there are not gonna be naked sliders. – Steven Sharif

• عرد will take on a racial appearance. هحلسالا will scale in size based on race.

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. – Steven Sharif

• The appearance of crafted gear is influenced by its rarity.
  • Particle effects are used to denote the importance and rarity of some weapons.

• Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items look like.

• ليمجتلا تارضحتسم can be used by all races but there may be slight variations to make them work with the body builds of each race.

• Dye cosmetics can be used to change gear colors.

• Helmet display can be toggled on and off.

• Hair will likely be masked if helmet display is toggled on.

• هحلسالا are able to be sheathed.

Kickstarter weapon skins

retratskciK backers will receive a unique weapon skin.

• Usable on all types of weapons.
• Include subtle and tasteful glow/particle effects.

Summoned weapons

Summoner augments are still in development.

.ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺤﻟﺍ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺘﻟﺍ ﻖﻳﺮﻃ ﺔﻃﺭﺎﺧ ﻲﻓ ﺓﺩﻮﺟﻮﻣ ﻥﻮﻜﺗ ﻻ ﺪﻗﻭ ﻦﻳﺭﻮﻄﻤﻟﺍ ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ ﺍﺮًﺧﺆﻣ ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟﺍ ﺕﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟﺍ ﺾﻌﺑ ﺪﻴﻛﺄﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ ﻢﻟ

• تائف with a Summoner secondary may grant augmented skills that summon weapons. These summoned weapons are not able to be equipped.
  • The word "equip" only applies to items. There are currently no plans to include summoning items into a player's inventory or character slots. It may however be possible to change the appearance and damage type/data of a weapon through the use of a spell.
  • There are summoned weapons that appear as a spell VFX to damage opponents for a period of time. These will not be able to be wielded, since weilding implies an item in a character equipment slot.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapons

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse Eldritch longsword 3D render.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapons each have an associated ability. Each weapon has three different tiers. Ranged weapons are currently hitscan based, with the exception of Nightfall, which is projectile-based. Melee weapons are currently cone hitscan based.

• APOC:Archmage's Companion
• APOC:Bonesmasher
• APOC:Bronze Axe
• APOC:Crossbow of Revealing
• APOC:Firefrost
• APOC:Greatsword of Haste
• APOC:Grimoire of the Fallen Sky
• APOC:Lifebringer
• APOC:Longbow of Miasma
• APOC:Nightfall
• APOC:Paladin's Might
• APOC:Rusty Sword
• APOC:Spiritpierce
• APOC:Stillblade
• APOC:The Drifter
• APOC:The Silencer
• APOC:Thundering Mace
• APOC:Wand of Light

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapon skills

- None -

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapon appearances

- No results -

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapon rarities

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapons and abilities get better with each tier.

1. Blue – uncommon.
2. Yellow – rare.
3. Red – legendary.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse active blocking

Tank active blocking with a Shield in Alpha-2.

The shield version would probably be better but you'd still be able to parry or whatnot with a two-handed weapon, or even maybe a dual wield. – Tradd Thompson

Cleric active blocking with a Shield in Alpha-2.

Active blocking is a universal skill that applies to all classes.

• Active blocking is present in Alpha-2. At present the developers are using a universal stamina-based energy system, but they will be testing the use of separate energy mechanics for universal skills in Alpha-2.

Active blocking might be an ability that- it's universal, of course it's universal- but it might be consuming mana; and you'll be able to adjust that mana consumption based off of your passive spec into your skill trees. In addition, it might also consume stamina, where that's something we're going to be testing as part of Alpha-2. – Steven Sharif

• Different types of equipment are catered toward blocking different damage types.
  • Shields are better for active blocking physical damage, but any melee weapon can also be used to parry with a lesser amount of mitigation.
  • Sigils are better at actively blocking magical damage.

Q: How are you designing encounters around active blocking? Will it be situational use, or would I expect to be laying on my block keybind for most of the fight to prevent getting deleted by bosses?

A: It depends really on the type of adversary you're facing. Some of them are going to have indicators or tells that a big attack is coming. It's an animation wind up where you'll have an opportunity to use active block in very unique situations that are based on timing and additional mitigation for those incoming one-off attacks. In other occasions you'll be able to use it off of rotational cooldowns, or if you're waiting for a particular ability or you're during the use of your Aegis. There's different situations for when active block is a relevant use-case. – Steven Sharif

• Some abilities may be able to overcome, surpass, or cancel active blocking.

If a player is in a state, such as an active block, or an active tumble state, there will likely be some types of abilities that interact with reacting to those types of states and will either overcome surpass or cancel out those states, particularly as it relates to not just active blocking, but also potentially passive blocking as well; and that would be something probably related to physical penetration values as a stat, or even CC breaks that could be relevant as well for those types of things. I think that's on the radar for the combat team. – Steven Sharif

• Previously the developers had not finalized designs for active blocking and were leaning toward using more traditional buff-oriented universal damage mitigation for the MMO, and were also considering interaction between action-based blocking and a passive block stat.
  • The Paladin's Might shield in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse had its own hit box and hit points (HP); that could actively block projectiles.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse weapon variants

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse environment.

The first chapter of Apocalypse is The Exodus. It takes part in the initial stages of the fall and sets the scene for upcoming chapters.

• Between 15 and 20 cosmetic rewards are earnable in every chapter.
• Daily and weekly quests will allow players to gain up to 50 levels (matching the intended level cap for the Ashes of Creation MMORPG).
• Advancing through these levels allows players to unlock unique cosmetic rewards, such as weapon skins.

You're going to have an adventuring path and that adventuring path is going to come with weekly quests and daily quests that you can participate in that will be available for the Castle sieges for the Horde and for the Battle Royale; and as you complete these quests you're going to gain experience; and right now you have up to 50 levels, which matches the intended cap for Ashes of Creation. Fifty levels of the adventure path that you can advance in; and as you advance in each of these levels you're going to be unlocking certain assets, such as these weapon skins. Now the great thing about player's progress in Apocalypse is that you will share the same account from Apocalypse to Ashes of Creation the MMORPG and anything that you earn in Apocalypse will be in Ashes of Creation the MMORPG- a unique as a skin exactly: A skin that you will have access to for helping us test write Apocalypse and preparing these different Alpha and Beta stages for Ashes of Creation. – Steven Sharif

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See also

• Gear
• عرد
• هحفاكم
• هلثمالا