Good afternoon, Myka! We'll get the routine questions out of the way first:

Are you originally from the San Diego area?
Nope, I had only visited San Diego a couple times before I started working on Vanguard.

Where are you from, and do you like it so far?
I am a native of Southern California . It's nice to get away from the smog and traffic of LA, not that San Diego has great traffic, but it's better than LA. And being near the ocean is always nice.

What's your official title and how long have you been working on Vanguard?
Game Designer is my title, and I've been working on the game for a little over a year now.

What did you do before?
I was a QA Tester at THQ. I worked on several RTSs made by Relic

What does THQ stand for?
Toy Headquarters. THQ used to be a toy company, and they shifted into purely gaming over time.

Testing toys...I'm overcome with jealousy!
I spent most of my time there Testing Dawn of War and expansions for it, and some time testing Company of Heroes.

So what do you do on the Vanguard team? Or maybe I should ask, what are you currently working on?
Right now I'm working on implementing the flying mount quest. I do lots of content implementation, mainly of quests and population.

You worked on some of the new Ksaravi Gulch quests, right?
Yup, I was part of the group there designed the quests for the Ksaravi Gulch Dungeon. And I implemented the (minor) population changes tot he dungeon, and all of the quest, that is, the quest in the dungeon. The changes outside the dungeon were made by Gary Fisher.

I know players are eagerly anticipating the flying mount quest, are you willing to give away any tiny spoilers?
Ummm, it has wings? ~chuckles~
It's certainly not a soloable quest, that's for sure. There are parts that are soloable, but definitely not all of it.

So what other quests have you done in Vanguard?
Jezz, I've done bits and pieces all over the place, but then, I guess everyone here has. Umm, I did part of the Tehatamani Empire, everything in the Fallen Cove, parts of Veskal's Exchange and Kaon's Rush, a couple sections of the River Valley . One of my favorite quests there was "Slithering Stalker" where the player has to stalk a snake. Part of Khal's lower level progression, some quests with the Skrilien, Some quests in Jharuu Flats, part of the URT quest series, some of the quests in Tahean's Vengance, etc. etc. Oh, some of Ca'ial Brael and the Wood Elf/Raki starting areas too.

What character do you play in Vanguard?
I've played the necro mostly. I've dabbled with a couple others, but I always come back to my necro. Of course, that might just be me not wanting to level another character up to 50.

So imagine this: There's a war going on - Pirates vs. Ninjas - and you absolutely had to pick a side; who would you join?
Pie, definitely, particularly sour-cream-apple pie. I have yet to have a cake that was as good as that pie.

Pfft. You cannot fight on the side of pie! Wait, wait. Let me guess, I'm going to ask you to pick between pie and cake, and you are going to tell me you'd rather eat ninjas?
Well, I've never been a pirate or a ninja, but I've eaten pie and cake, so I'm sticking with the one argument that I've had personal experience with :)

So how long have you been growing your hair out? I think it's safe to say that you have the longest hair of any game designer. Ever. Any designers out there that want to challenge the fact can bring it!
Last time I cut my hair was in 98'.

If you were forced into doing karaoke, what song would you sing?
Kumbalawé - Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco. I love Cirque du Soleil's music.

Do those songs actually have lyrics?
Some do. That one does. They might be nonsense, but they sound great!

Fill in the blanks...
"I never leave home without..." ...a bandana. When I taught emergency preparedness and first aid while working for the Boy Scouts, I found that a little swuare of cloth is amazingly useful. Heck, it's almost a mini-towl!

"If walking, rabid zombies attacked the first think I would do..." ...would be to probably go and visit some people I know up in the mountains near Big Bear. Although, there is a Marine base just north of here, might be fine just staying near them.

"If you looked in my fridge you'd find..." ...pasta sauce with lots of garlic. <3 garlic.

Good, good. You are ready for a vampiric zombie attack.
I don't think I actually have a stake...

So do you have any advice for aspiring game designers out there (aside from obviously keeping a good stake in your house)?
Mod. Pick up any game with a good set of modding tools. Being able to send a disc along with your resume that has examples of things you created on it is amazing. If you can, join a team working on a mod, and use the team-members as references.

Anything else you'd like to add?
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition?

Thanks for letting me pester you with questions, Myka!