As many of you know, Emily "Domino" Taylor took over as our new tradeskill developer recently. Since I am sure many crafters are interested in knowing more about her, she was kind enough to answer a few questions for EQ2TC.

Niami: Domino, thanks again for taking the time out to answer a few questions for us, now that you've settled in a bit!

We know from the the SOE mini-interview, that you've been crafting in EQ2 since beta. Are there any other MMOs in which you've crafted in the past, and if so, which ones?

Domino: I played EQLive for several years, but I never got greatly involved in crafting, it just didn�t interest me. I think I got one character up to about 300 in cooking, but that was the highest. I used to spend quite a lot of time farming crafting components for other people, but I didn�t have the patience to do it for myself.

I tried out SWG briefly when it was fairly new (pre-Jedi unlocking) and played around with a couple characters on a friend�s account. The crafting there seemed very interesting, and I liked what I saw of it, but it was too complex for me to really get involved in when I was just playing around on a friend�s alt. The actual gameplay itself didn�t catch my interest at all, so I didn�t end up getting my own account and sticking around though.

EQ2 is the only MMO I�ve played so far where the gameplay on the adventure side was interesting enough for me to stick around long enough to get caught up in the crafting, and the crafting was interesting enough to keep me doing it once I started.

Niami:. Do you do any real-life crafts, and if so, what ones?

Domino: I like to cook, I also crochet, and I used to enjoy pottery though I haven�t done that for a few years. I took a course in making silver jewelry a couple years back and made a couple of rings and things, but I haven�t kept that up.

Actually, I just moved into a new apartment this week, so currently real life and EQ2 are overlapping in a slightly surreal manner. I spend my evenings looking around at furniture and furnishing my apartment, and I spend my workdays looking around at furniture in Norrath too. I swear I�ve started expecting to see rough linen rugs in Ikea. This weekend I got two baby cacti to decorate my desk, but since I have a black thumb, the jury�s still out on whether they�re going to live. It�s just as well gardening isn�t a tradeskill in EQ2!

Niami: Do you want to admit to an in-game personal favorite tradeskill?

Domino: Carpentry was my first character to 70, so I�d have to say that one. I have various other crafters, but I find something very satisfying about being able to put what I made in my house and see it physically there. That�s definitely a psychological advantage carpentry has over the others. I have or had crafters of most types scattered around at various levels though, and enjoy them all in their own way.

Niami: I see from the SOE housing forum that you're collecting information on furniture issues, to see if the Art folks can give them some needed loving. Are we going to see some overdue TLC on those issues?

Domino: I can�t promise anything there, since I can�t make those changes myself. I also know with the new expansion coming up, the art department is flat out on more urgent things, so I don�t plan to pester them about furniture bugs until things calm down a bit. At this point I�m just compiling the information, so I can put a request in the (probably very long) queue when it seems more appropriate. But, I hope eventually it will be possible to address them.

Niami: I suspect that this following question is asked of devs too rarely. What can we, as a community, do to help you? Are there certain issues you want us to report on, or specific forums or threads you want us to watch for feedback?

Domino: I can�t speak for any other devs, but personally, I don�t plan to be shy asking for opinions in the tradeskill forum if I�m interested in getting some. Just don�t assume that simply because I�m asking about something, that means it�s going to happen tomorrow! I like to get a feel for the big picture before prioritizing things, so some things I ask about today may be filed away for future reference way in the future.

It also helps if folks can keep threads on topic, and be detailed in their responses; saying things like �make tradeskills worthwhile,� or �the crafting process needs to be more fun,� while heartfelt, really doesn�t help me to identify the issues that you feel need changing. A concise list of exactly WHAT would make tradeskills worthwhile to you, or suggestions about what would make the process fun, maybe even with any appropriate screenshots or mock-ups to demonstrate your ideas, helps a lot in understanding exactly what�s being requested.

And finally, if you notice something is bugged, do submit a /bug report in game. This sends it to QA so they can verify the bug, and once they�ve done that they�ll pass it on to me with all the details of what files and file names are involved. This saves me a lot of time since I don�t have to go hunting around trying to find the files myself. While it may seem more immediate to post bugs on the forums, it does bypass the QA testing and ends up taking me more time to fix (it�s also more possible I�ll accidentally forget about it, if it doesn�t sit in my bug queue).

Niami: For these next two, I want to remind the community that even the best-laid plans and intentions change between concept and implementation. In no way are these to be considered set in stone promises. Anyone found holding these up to the devs with a "You said ..." in the future will be solidly and thoroughly gnawed and/or solidly ker-thwapped with the RPoD by a feisty halfling! ;)

What do crafters have to look forward to in the next update or so with regards to bug fixes and/or new content?

Domino: I�m going to start trying to pad out the recipe books of some of the classes who�ve traditionally had the fewest recipes. I know that number of recipes isn�t everything, but it�s a good place to start! However, I�m still learning where everything is and how it all works, and I�m already starting work on the next expansion, so until the expansion is out of the way, back-filling recipes is going to be a part-time ongoing process that will likely end up being just a recipe here and there slipped in when I have a few spare minutes. Woodworkers should already have seen they have a couple of RP musical instruments heading their way (with big thanks to dev Feconix).

Niami: Is there anything you can tell us about some of the long term stuff you're hoping to tackle? I'm sure your plate is beyond overflowing right now, so it may be hard to target which are the "hottest" at the moment.

Domino: I�m hoping to make a post with some more details on this very soon. I�m all for crafter world domination of course, but apparently this requires a bit more negotiation than I�d expected. ;) I don�t suppose I could borrow that RPoD for a couple of days �?

Niami: Since I've a reputation to maintain, will we be seeing the return of any chocolate recipes at any time in the future?

Domino: Absolutely, this is very high on my list! I also hope to introduce more roleplay type food such as birthday cakes and wedding cakes, and of course, bring back cheesecakes for the ratongas.

Niami: Following what now seems to be an EQ2 tradition, cake or pie?

Domino: Are you suggesting I have to choose just one? That does not compute �

Niami: A woman after my own heart! Thanks again for taking the time to answer these for us, Domino! I'll leave everyone with my own answer to the cake or pie question, in the form of a little bit of lighthearted haiku ...

Cake or Pie, ask you?
The filling matters little.
Chocolate rules all.