Domino Moves Up to Associate Producer, Frizznik to Navigate Tradeskills

If you have been following the posts (and tweets) of Emily “Domino” Taylor, Tradeskill lead for EQ2, over the past few months, you’ve probably picked up on her increased involvement and interaction with the other parts of the EQ2 team. Today’s news that she has stepped up from Tradeskill Lead to Associate Producer then is not too surprising, as she has already produced and contributed to several live events and had a hand in creating increasingly elaborate content beyond that of Tradeskills.

Domino has quickly grown from creating new tiers of tradeskill content (for most tradeskill classes, a mostly copy-paste operation) to producing complex quests and designing entire events. We’ve seen the introduction of elaborate Heritage quests, the first ever Signature tradeskill quest (the Coldain Prayer Shawl), as well as Tradeskill Epics, and a large variety of content for tradeskillers, all while more than doubling the number of recipes available to Carpenters and other classes.

And all along, Domino has made a point of communicating with players moreso than many other developers, and rapidly correcting the numerous shortcomings and frustrations of the EQ2 tradeskill system as it existed when she took over. I think one could safely say that, with the exclusion of the actual “mechanics” of crafting (the dull 1-2-3-1-2-3 four second crafting cycle), Tradeskills are one of the most polished parts of EQ2.

So with today’s announcement that Domino will be taking more of a “big picture” vantage point on the EQ2 development process, who will pick up the Tradeskill banner? As it turns out, someone who is no stranger to the task: Paul “Frizznik” Carrico. I’m hopeful that with his background in game mechanics and content design, he’ll be able to lend a hand to continuing to shepherd tradeskills, while addressing some of the mechanical shortcomings of the actual crafting process (the aforementioned 4 second crafting cycle having proven to be a more effective sleep aid than Diprivan), as well as the niggling bugs and caps that have largely hampered the draw of Crafting and Harvesting skill buffs. As we saw last week, Frizznik has wasted no time and already put through some changes in Harvesting speeds for lower level characters.

After the break, the full announcement…

From Amnerys on the EQ2 Forums:

When it comes to the EverQuest franchise and designing tradeskills, Paul “Frizznik” Carrico is no noob. He’s been working on SOE games since 2000 and has had a firm hand in the evolution of Norrath, both before and after the Shattering. He even spent a little time working on Free Realms. More recently, he has been doing great work on the mechanics team, including dungeon and battlegrounds design.

Being a game designer is an ever-evolving job, and often there are opportunities within a team to take the lead on designing different aspects of the game. After a recent shuffle of duties, Frizznik is now heading up Tradeskill Design for EverQuest II. EQII players who enjoy the tradeskill aspect of the game will likely remember him from the early days of EQII, and those whose remember Frizznik’s previous work on tradeskills will be happy to know they are still in good hands.

But where did Domino go? Don’t fret! She has taken on a new and exciting role with the EQII team as Associate Producer. We’ll still be seeing her around as she helps Smokejumper keep the team organized and running full steam ahead, and generally lending a hand where needed.

Now, lets get to know Frizznik a little better!

and a word from Domino:

Thanks for the good wishes! I am sure tradeskills will be in good hands with Frizznik, and I’m also sure a fresh pair of eyes and new ideas will be a good thing for tradeskills. And of course, I’m not going anywhere, I’ll still be working hard helping make EQII awesome, just in slightly different ways now.

I am going to unsticky some of my old threads from the top of this forum, to let Frizznik decide how he wants to organize things and get a fresh start. As you can see he’s already jumped in with both feet and I’m sure you’ll be hearing lots from him as he settles in.