MAG Developer Tips: The Skill Tree

The weekend is almost here and we’re closing our first week of Zip-Tips out with help from our resident “designer in rock,” Jason Olander – better known to frequent MAG.com forum visitors as BenjaminBreegg. Today, Jason drops the knowledge on MAG’s skill tree system to teach you how to make a better character. As always, we’ll begin with a prep video followed by Jason’s words of wisdom:

“Hey there, this is Jason and it’s a fact that the skill tree is the heart of your character, and the place where a soldier’s identity is forged. Specialization is the name of the game here, as becoming comfortable with a particular weapon set and support role, and then spending skill points wisely to improve upon those skills will help you become an effective combatant and squad mate. Following these few tips will help you become a force to be reckoned with out on the battlefield.

• Choose your weapon. Rather than spend precious skill points across several weapon types, pick one and spend points to continually upgrade that category’s weapon selections, attachments, and skills.
• Choose your role. Electronics warfare? Combat medic? Field engineer? Explosives expert? MAG is all about teamwork, and a balanced squad is a good squad. Decide on your “support” role immediately, and just like when specializing with a weapon, continually spend skill points to improve that skill set rather than scattering points across disciplines.
• Save your skill points. Just because you leveled up and have a shiny new skill point to spend, that doesn’t mean you have to spend it “right now.” Decide first what your next ‘must have” skill is and save up for it. That new foregrip attachment for an assault rifle or the electronic sensor jammer may be worth the wait.
• Respec early and often. Your current Respec points are shown in the “Skills” tree. When you have enough points, opting for a respec will reset all purchased skills and give you all of your earned points back to spend again; it’s basically a do-over. This is a great opportunity to hone your specialty and personal play-style to a razor’s edge.
• Be prepared for an ever-changing battlefield by “packaging” new skills and equipment together as loadouts in the Armory. Use attacker and defender skill sets as a starting point, and build from there with your specialties. Packaging up gear skills into an easily selectable loadout can make all the difference when a stealthy assault on an AA Battery is called for, or when a last stand against heavy APC’s can mean the difference between victory or defeat.

In closing, the key is to maximizing the skill tree is to choose your weapon, choose your role, then work up the ranks to become effective at both, while using the respec function liberally to find that perfect combination for your play style.”

Thanks Jason, great tips. We’ll be back with additional help from other Zippers next Tuesday, as we’ll be off Monday for the President’s Day holiday. Have a great three day weekend and we’ll see you again soon.