Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) had an almost overwhelming array of interesting sights to see and discussions to hear this year, but one of the most interesting was the Q&A discussion with a panel consisting of some of the luminaries of the MMO industry.
Although the discussion was supposed to focus on where the genre is headed, questions ranged far and wide when the audience got going.
The panel was made up of Kevin Maginn – Lead Designer for Pirates of the Burning Sea, Matt Miller – Lead Designer for City of Heroes and City of Villains, Ed Stark – the former Lead Designer for Dungeons & Dragons and now the World Designer for an unannounced MMO, Chris McKibbin – Executive Producer on Gods and Heroes, and Noah Ward – Lead Designer for EVE Online. The discussion was technically moderated by Jason Justice from Ntreev USA, although since the crowd was quite respectful and things moved along quickly, he served more as an additional (if quiet) panel member and a timekeeper than anything else. Each question will be listed individually, followed by an overview of the responses by the panel members.
Q: Why don’t we see more balanced classes instead of hyper-specialists?
Stark started off by referring
