Backs

A big component of the MMORPG that - half of that acronym is RPG role-playing game. And in order to role-play you need to be able to represent what your character is doing in that world and part of what animation is doing is creating these sockets on the let's say the belt or the back that can plug in certain types of props or items that are created by the character team, like Carson, might be a scroll tube, it might be a potion, it might be whatever: Those players will have the ability as we've discussed in the past will have the ability to select what they want to be represented in those sockets and then animation will make sure that jibe well in movement.^[1] – Steven Sharif

Back slots include.^[2]

Ranged slot.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[2]
Cloak/Cape.^[3]^[5]^[2]
Accessory (backpack etc).^[3]^[2]
Shields.^[5]^[2]
- Shields have likely been moved to an offhand slot.^[6]

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.^[7]^[8]^[2]

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.^[7]^[8]
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.^[7]^[8]

Let's say you use Power shot: You click Power shot, you quickly switch over to the ranged weapon, execute the skill, and you're back to your primary focus, which is the sword and shield; and then for weapon attacks like your Q or your left mouse button, you would have the option to to set which is your focus, the ranged weapon, or the main offhand selection and you can swap back and forth between that as you want.^[7] – Steven Sharif

Rangers are going to have a minimum distance requirement where they are eligible to use their ranged weapons.^[9]

Augments can increase the range of certain skills.^[10]

While melee characters have a max distance proximity where they're eligible to use their sword and melee weapons, Rangers are going to have a minimum distance requirement.^[9] – Steven Sharif

Cloaks

Cape (Cloak) concept art.^[11]

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse cape (cloak) preview.^[12]

Kiss of summer cosmetic character cloak concept art.^[13]

Cloaks (capes/coats/backs) are a type of back armor in Ashes of Creation.^[14]^[15]

There will be one shoulder capes, full body capes and cloaks. These attach to the player's back slot.^[16]
- Players may choose to show or hide items in their back slot.^[16]
There will be capes (cloaks) with hoods.^[17]
- All hoods, whether part of a complete costume or individual gear, will have the option to be shown or hidden on the character by the player.^[18]
Cloak cosmetic skins can not be applied over costumes.^[19]

Backpacks

Featherstone Expedition Pack backpack 3D renders.^[3]

In order to roleplay you need to be able to represent what your character is doing in that world and part of what animation is doing is creating these sockets on the let's say the belt or the backpack that can plug in certain types of props or items that are created by the character team.^[20] – Steven Sharif

A backpack (also referred to as a Bag) is an item crafted by artisans that provides personal inventory space.^[21]^[22]

Backpacks are equippable in a character's back slot.^[3]^[2]
The higher level the backpack, the greater the inventory space.^[22]

There's item progression as it relates to quality of bags, types of bags, and the materials they're most used for. Some of them are more PvP oriented that can reduce significantly drop rates for PvP as a result of that progression.^[21] – Steven Sharif

Different backpack types cater to different activities.^[22]
- Gatherer's backpacks are intended to carry gatherables.^[22]
- Adventurer's backpacks are intended to carry consumables and items.^[22]
- Player death drop rates can be affected by the type and quality of backpack.^[21]
- Bags with reduced PvP looting times.^[23]^[21]

Some of those bags might have increased times to interact with a player corpse and you can choose to perhaps have less capacity, less stack size, less slot availability for the certain types of gatherables you may want to acquire in exchange for an increased interaction time for other players that might try to loot that bag, giving you time to reach it and take back your belongings. Or, if in the middle of a fight they see a corpse on the ground and they're like wait a minute, I want to grab that. Well, if I got to spend 10 seconds to interact with that corpse and there's combat going on, this is an opportunity strategically for you to recapture the grounds- for you to recapture the battlefield. You want to think about those types of interactions. How do you add layers of strategy to engagements and and there's ways to do that through inventory management as well.^[23] – Steven Sharif

Items on back and belt

Players can set the appearance priority for the items they wish to show in their Back and Belt slots.^[5]^[24]^[25] Only one item can show at a time, and that is determined by player choice.^[2]

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.^[25] – 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.^[26]^[7]^[8]
- Weapons are able to be sheathed.^[2]^[27]
- Idle animations will be selectible by players in the character creator.^[28]