MMORPG.com: EQ is a 7 year-old game at this point in time. Are there any plans to improve or change the Crafting system? What is the focus of the Crafting community and your tradeskills lead designer these days?

Travis McGeathy: We have had a number of discussions on how to improve the crafting system, incorporating what we've learned from our game, other games, and what the players enjoy the most.

As you might imagine, any change is bound to be surrounded by controversy, and since these changes would be rather dramatic, we are taking time to plan them carefully. We want to ensure that they are an enhancement to the system, that the changes are fun and exciting, and that they will be enjoyed by the tradeskill community.

Our current focus with Tradeskills is to make the system more consistent and viable to players of all levels and skillsets. The Cultural armor and the new Spell Research system were both adventures in this direction and have proved to be popular with the players. It's a direction that we plan to continue.