[Cybsled]

Much in the way firms hire former-hackers to develop software protection, MMO developers might do well to hire a former-high end hardcore raider.

The same general thought applies: This guy used to do this for a "living". He knows how they think, what they might try, etc. It could do wonders. Out of the box thinkers, game mechanic exploiters.

Think back to how Verant was aghast at the fact monks were using FD to pull singles. Or burn-tankers in COH were reaping massive AE farming XP by pulling ultra-huge clumps. Or someone exploited LOS to kill some raid boss (take your pick of a MMO). Or some WoW guild stacked classes to make a raid boss ez mode (or just plain killable in the case of Muru I guess!).

What will a player do? What can I do to discourage that, but at the sametime not make the encounter broken? At what point does "complex" degenerate into frustration or tedium?

Important things to keep in mind.

edit: The main problem with early WoW raids, as has been stated, was the lack thereof, poor item design, and some untested encounters.