MAG v1.02 and Commando Developer Tips

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What’s up guys? Today we have a one-two punch in MAG news as we offer up our latest developer tips along with the specifics of the our next downloadable patch that will hit servers tomorrow, February 17.

First, the patch.

MAG, v1.02 has a consistent theme — Medical Support. After taking your feedback into consideration and playing countless games ourselves, we’ve made a number of Field Support adjustments that should help you steer through the battlefield more effectively. These fixes will also clean things up for players of other classes who don’t have a need to see who is hurt and who isn’t.

To be specific, we’ve eliminated the onscreen medic icon from anyone who has a Medical Kit and have instead changed it so that only those who have the Resuscitation Kit sport the cross. Moreover, we’ve also hidden “incapacitated” icons for downed players from everyone but those who can help them — cleaning up the screen quite considerably — and have added in some distance counters so that you know how far you have to travel before arriving at the injured.

The patch will automatically download on February 17, 2010 at 1am Pacific/ 4am Eastern/ 9am GMT and weigh in at about 40MB for the initial patch installer, with an additional 55MB for the patch itself. For complete patch details that include everything included in the download, be sure visit the official MAG Blog at https://blog.mag.com.

Today’s developer tips come from Zipper artist and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin stunt double, Keith Bachman – a man who knows how to play the “Commando” class, and a man who is going to share that knowledge with you now.

But first, a video to explain what the Commando is, immediately followed by Keith’s tips below:

Hey, this is Keith with some advice how to get in there for some close quarters combat!

Basic Tips:

  • The Commando is the exact opposite of the Sniper. It’s all about popping up in the middle of the enemy and wrecking havoc at close range. Heck, Commandos are the modern day berserkers… a highly skilled fighter to take on a squad at 5m, and completely crazy for doing it.
  • The holy trifecta of your loadout is your weapons. The shotgun is perfect for one shot take downs, but it makes a lot of noise — so it’s best used when backup is nearby since everyone and their uncle is going to hear you. The SMG with a silencer is perfect for getting in there with little or no support because of its high fire rate with the added bonus of keeping you off the enemy’s mini-maps. Finally, don’t forget to grab the “Knives: Improved Swipe Speed” and “Knives: Expanded Reach” skills. Nothing says “Commando” better than rushing in with a med kit and a knife, dropping everyone and never making a sound!
  • Seriously consider Improved Stealth and Health for survivability.
  • Stay out of open areas and stick to cover and flanks so that you can safely rush your opponents when the time is right.

Advanced Tips:

  • The Motion Sensor can keep you alive. Equip it and you can see your enemies on the mini-map every time they twitch. Know what’s around that corner BEFORE you get there.
  • Shadows are your friend. Don’t make a noise and hold still and most of the time they will run right by you! Remember: you have to get to your objective alive and undetected.

That’s it for Keith’s Commando tips. We’ll be back again tomorrow with Jay Embry’s helpful hints for the Direct Action Class. Don’t miss it!

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88 Comments

9 Author Replies

  • Smart idea. The medic icon thing was what I was confused about in the beta and I’m glad it is fixed finally to suit those that can help. I can’t wait to get this game! …I just need the cash. :)

  • Can I buy the full game from PSN?

  • I have to see this patch is penny wise, pound foolish.

    Perhaps you folks can walk and chew gum at the same time, but this fixes in this patch are an extremely minor issue to the balance issues in the game.

    So the question is, why are you polishing the fenders while the engine doesn’t run right?

    Maybe you have different “teams” working on different patches, and issues with the game, but if that’s the case then they should all be pulled away from the small stuff to work on getting the game balanced before little houskeeping chores like fixing the medic icons.

    • Well since you asked nicely…

      Seriously, though, like I\’ve said before, balancing is something that we\’re always looking at and will continue to look at over time. As we introduce new things (patches, add-ons, or whatever) it changes the game on its own, as does specific maps, PMC weapon types, etc. There\’s a lot to follow and look after, and adjusting things to be as balanced as possible for all sides isn\’t as simple as snapping your fingers; especially as people invent new tactics, find new exploits, etc.

      As we\’ve said before, though, we\’re committed to this in the long run and will continue to monitor and adjust the game where it needs it for a good long while.

  • Good stuff Zipper, I can always count on you guys making the experience easier to enjoy.

  • sounds good, the game doesn’t need much tweaking, though I think less people should be eligible for healing, if you fall from a high location and go incapacitated, someone shouldn’t be able to heal your broken legs with a med kit.

  • Dear Zipper,

    I’ve had this terrible glitch affect me while I play. I have times where I’ll try to respawn, but the timer just resets to 20 seconds instead of letting me spawn; I waited at least 5 minutes, if not more before I respawned once. I’ve even had times where the respawn timer and loadout bar just disapear completely and the game won’t let me kill myself, or I spawn into a viehical/ bunker and all I can do is bring up the menu or rotate the camera. Sometimes I find this can be aliveiated by pressing the PS button and it usually only happens to me in domination. Please ignore the spelling mistakes, I do not have the time to correct them atm.

  • thanks for the update, i hope the devs listen to all the constructive criticism the gamers are offering, it will help make the game evolve in the right direction-

    I have to say i am having a blast with this game! keep up the great work and keep innovating!

    :)

  • Can you guys make it so we can filter out non mic players? I hate it when my team is silent.

  • Oh forgot to say, thanks for eliminating the medic icon form those who only have the medical kit. I gets kind of annoyiing seeing other medics run by me without reviving me, at least now I’ll know who’s actually able to revive me instead of getting mad at other players. Thanks for making such a great game even better!

  • Will you guys be making a tutorial on the squad leader/platoon leader/OIC commands? Jumping into a battle as one of those seems quite confusing for the first couple of go’s without any guidance.

  • That patch makes a lot of sense! This is also strategically better as sometimes seeing someone that needs help or incapacitated on your screen often takes away your focus from the enemy waiting for you to show your face so he can snipe you or blow you to smithereens.

  • @ Jeremy

    Ok thanks! Good to hear that’s being sorted out.

  • “Nothing says “Commando” better than rushing in with a med kit and a knife, dropping everyone and never making a sound!”

    Commandos = Ninjas!

    oh, and great idea about the distance counters so that you know how far you have to travel before arriving at the injured, it will help prioritize the routes the medics can take to be more effective!

  • Good stuff guys.

    I mainly play as field support, so reading about these little things to help us out makes me happy.

    props to Zipper.

  • I love playing as Raven but to be completely honest, their theme (dark bluish) is way too dull and makes me depressed sometimes. S.V.E.R is orange and bright while Valor is a little light greenish but more realistic in colors. But Raven… sigh

    My question is (I know it might be a lot to ask) but would you consider maybe having a few different theme colors for each class to suite the gamers taste? That or just lighten Raven a little bit. :(

  • So SVER will still be able to disarm gates from the inside while other factions are only able to disarm from the outside ?
    or has this issue been fixed ?

  • Awesome patch!! thanks…

    In case you answer me…DLC? MAPS? please more maps? Ill pay for them, I promise!! ;p

    you guys made a kick ass game that I can’t get enough of. keep it up!!

  • @16

    good question, i hope they can fix that soon

  • @15 Raven is supposed to be depressing. That’s what Raven stands for. Have you seen Raven in Teen Titans? Have you read Edgar Allen Poe’s Raven?

  • Good stuff, I’d love to see a video for the Assault class.

  • Just wondering if this patch addresses the kills at 120m+ stat bug?

  • Good to see the wheels are rollin though I hope other patches are in the works too.

    One thing about the medics … everyone is a medic. That makes it so if you push into a room, get 5 down, and 1 person stands, he can raise someone, that person raises someone right away and so on. 3 seconds later, they are all up and walking and it looks like your assault was a complete waste of time.

    Suggestion. People who are raised should wait for their med kit to recharged rather then ready to go right away. Not a long wait time, but just enough so it actually takes time for them to recover.

    I’m pretty sure you didn’t expect everyone on the field to be medics, so I think this would balance out defending/attacking.

  • Great! Zipper, if you don’t mind, could you teach people the significance of using rockets on vehicles and turrets.

    Or perhaps any videos that promote teamwork of more then one person. I would greatly appreciate it.

    Thank you for the constant monitoring and updates.

  • Now this is going to help me A LOT! I love these tips, each and everyone of them as helped me to find my place in MAG, and to work as a team. This seems like my style. I’ll try to add to my skill tree in this way.

    Have you seen the MAG invisible man glitch? It happens when a player can “somehow” get UNDER the map and wreck havoc from below, meanwhile, the other team can’t hit the guy. He destroyed one side of the map in the S.V.E.R. domination match and ruined the game for us Raven players. *sigh* Will this be fixed in the patch?

  • *repairmen deserve more xp.

    *ribbons should stack. you should be able to get the same ribbon multiple times in one match.

  • I finally just got my MAG copy, and this is a great patch. I get yelled at for walking past them and not helping them. I can’t as of yet, so great update.

    And Jeremy, you guys ever hire for entry environmentalist/level designers????

  • can u guys get this game on playstation store

  • I havent been on in awhile since i got Beatles rock band but im going to jump back into the war now. please add the Raven armor for us all to enjoy…that pre order bonus was a joke. i will even trade my SVER armor for it. i havent used it yet

  • ? k i dont have mag yet but the reason will yall please make joining games faster i got friends who said the joining games take awhile like in the beta thats what turn me off about the game do that and ill buy the game :-)

    • The beta queues were slower because there were fewer people. Well over half a million people were playing MAG as of last week, so the queues are much quicker now in terms of game starts.

  • 15 – Don’t you see the irony in making “Raven” more colorful?

    Some of us like the look of Darth Vaders and Ninjas of the world. :)

    Ravens are black, so Raven should be black.

  • Thanks Zipper. This will help alot, so I’m not running halfway across the field trying to get to someone that is too far away to help. Or just get shot down in the process, as usually happens.

  • Awesome, the game rocks guys, great job!!! 8)

  • Can we PLEASE get some PSN Mag AVATARS??? I wanna sport my Raven loud ‘n proud! (I’m a commando, too!!! Shotgun & SMG are BEAST.)

  • MAG.com integration? Sounds good.

  • I guess my original question was not of high enough value to be answered.(#16) I’ll assume that the answer is “no” SVER will be able to continue the gate disarming from the inside while other factions can not.

    It kinda sucks having to go inside the SVER building from the back door and kill everyone then set the charges to get through the front door… Bass Ackwards…

    Hope this gets fixed in the next update; until then, you SVER glitch’n n00bs suck.

  • Zipper, please patch to allow a character in each faction. If not at the get-go, then one that let’s you create a second file after maxing the first, a third after maxing the second. Killing off a level 60 character to start another faction campaign is ludicrous.

    LokeSTL – VALOR

  • good gosh! I didn’t know about the SVER glitch of disarming gates like that, no freaking wonder they win defending most of the time!!!

  • Just one question about future updates;

    When you add guns/gear/equipment/STUFF are y’all over at Zipper going to add everything to every PMC or are you going to give different PMC’s different additions?

    With these additions, is there any chance of raising the level cap?

    Alright, maybe it was two questions.

  • I say either remove the LMGs from the game, or prevent a character equipped with an LMG from sprinting, or at least make LMGs more unwieldy and feel less like SMGs than they currently do.

    I’m waiting to get back into MAG–just need Sony to get my YLoD fixed–perhaps in a week or so. But I remember this issue being the most obvious weapon balancing thing in the game.

  • I really want to hear the Direct Action because it seems like you can use the LMG and MMG like a sniper it completely outshines the Assault Rifles making them put aside. I wanted to use Assault Rifle like the AK-103 but after using it if felt completely pathetic like using the first Assault Rifles, would you guys address the balancing issues on the weapons? Since the Assualt Rifle takes the most skill points yet its not worth it. By the way what happen to the face masks of raven sver and valor?

  • Hey Zipper I just want to let you know that Ive been trying to play your game for about a week and a half now without success. I have a launch 60 gig and every other game i play in freezes up my ps3. Im in SVER and can only play suppression with moderate success of not freezing. It even locked up my system on the first training board i played. Ive only had my system freeze a handfull of times since i got it at launch. Ive swaped the disc for a new one at the store, I’ve reinstalled it three times, I finally picked up a slim and no problems yet with it. So just wanted to let you know there may be an issue out there for you to look into. Thanks

  • Great news Zipper! We can always count on y’all for great updates! ^_^

  • Jeremy, are you guys looking into putting timers on the door explosives? Or decreasing the interval between beeps as it closer to exploding? Many times I die from door explosions set by my own team, sometimes myself, and it sucks.

    • Our next patch after this one addresses this question — but we\’ll talk about that one a little closer towards its implementation.

      :)

  • cool update.

  • Hey Zipper i encountered a glitch last night whereby it was impossible for me to revive my friend (and yes i do have the right equipment). Someone else inn my sqad had the same problem aswell.

  • Yea I think I’m derinently gunna respec my dude and buy everything you said… Love the shotgun for SVER btw

  • Good update. Thanks for fixing that medic confusion. One thing, I saw before the mention of rockets. Can you fix both RPGs and TOW rockets? Like increase a damage radius because I can shoot a TOW rocket (from a turret) or RPG right at a guy, and he doesn’t die. It’s like you have to do a headshot with it to kill a guy. Doing it on a valor turret.

  • Would be great to get some Avatars for each PMC so I can tell just by looking n my Friends list who plays for what one.

    Also this is just a little problem if that but the start screen is boring should do something like a globe to kind of represent the scale of the game.

    Last when will there be a MAG homespace!

    (On a side note shooting people as they drop from a aircraft is a really guilty pleasure. I could do it all day.)

  • Hey great to see Zipper support, I do have some input though. I disagree with Keith on one thing. The shotgun is not one hit kill, even with a headshot. I’ve shot plenty in the face only to have them walk away after unloading a clip into me. Or even shot an enemy several times (distance no more than 10ft estimate) and they’ll turn around and kill me so I hope you guys consider increasing damage or adjusting damage with the shotgun.

  • @49, the players you shoot with the shotty and don’t die could have the extra 120HP perk and/or heavy armor.

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