| I spoke to Lawrence Poe on a couple of occasions over the years and I can tell you that he DID know his stuff, I just simply disagreed with him on almost every single topic.
The principle area in which we disagreed was in spell mechanics and how magic should work in EQ (and later Vanguard). His was a very utilitarian approach to spell design or the sort seen in World of Warcraft where spell does X damage and the next version of that spell does X+Y damage and otherwise remains exactly the same. He refused to accept the principle tennent of game design that the system has to mesh with the content in order to produce a viable and enjoyable game experience. It wasn't until he left the position of spell designer for EQ, for example, that mobs stopped resisting magic nearly 100% of the time. His spreadsheet showed that only a few pecent of mobs resisted 100% of the time and so he deemed there to be no problem...despite that those few pecent of mobs in the game happened to be nearly every mob in Temple of Veeshan at the time.
He's a very talented designer and his work on EQOA was underappreciated and so Im sure that he will find a ready home at another company regardless of the circumstances of his departure from Sigil. | 