MAG receives "dramatic" update

By Robert Purchese Published 26 February, 2010

Zipper revamps from cover to cover.

Zipper has released a big patch for MAG.

Changes were described on the European PlayStation blog as "dramatic" and include revamps for every single weapon as well as sped-up gear and weapon swapping and a clamp-down on various exploits. You'll also be given more warning when a BOOM! - bomb is about to explode.

This update is patch 1.03, and the entire contents are listed below.

Gameplay

  • Overhauled tuning of multiple weapons of all types (see "Weapon" section below)
  • Improved speed of weapon and gear swapping by approximately 500 milliseconds.
  • Fixed bug in SVER's Aralkum Mechanical Acquisition map and Absheron Refinery Domination map that allowed players to defuse a charge planted on a repaired gate or door.
  • Added a "solid tone" sound effect near the end of a charge's beeping detonation timer so that players know when the charge can no longer be defused and that they should vacate the area.
  • "Medium Improved" Armor now works as intended with the speed properties of Medium Armor and a defensive value greater than Medium, but less than Heavy Armor.
  • Changed resuscitated player's camera orientation to match the last camera direction used while incapacitated instead of the pre-harm camera.
  • Players no longer lose XP if a teammate is killed by an objective explosion caused by a charge they planted.
  • Respec Point requirements in Barracks have been changed from 3K, 5K, 10K, 17K, 26K, and 26K-Repeat to 1K, 2K, 3K, and 3K-Repeat.
  • Lowered the amount of damage necessary to kill an incapacitated enemy.
  • All fired projectiles (RPGs, Turret Rockets) have been given a steadier aim.
  • Mines that haven't been triggered are no longer removed from the map when the dead player that deploys them respawns unless that player changes their Loadout (note: The maximum number of mines you can plant cannot exceed the number you initially spawn with).
  • Fixed bug that prevented "fully-resuscitated" players with more than 100 health points from receiving their full HP.
  • Fixed bug that caused players to take unnecessary damage from both friendly and enemy vehicles when touching them.
  • Players no longer lose leadership points after entering "Veteran Mode."

Weapons

  • "From the hip" firing for Light and Medium machine guns have stronger recoil and are less accurate when moving.
  • Tuned weapon damage for all three factions.
  • Modified all short-ranged weapons (pistols, PDWs, shotguns, SMGs) so that they're less effective at long distances.
  • Made Battle Rifles more effective.
  • Reduced accuracy bonus for using iron sights and reflex sights so that players can no longer snipe with weapons that aren't intended to do so.
  • Increased damage values for all rockets to make them more effective (ex: three rockets can now destroy a DE turret).
  • Shooting through thin materials (fences, tents, etc.) will be more consistent.
  • Increased spread on shotguns.
  • Improved animations for rocket launchers.

Graphics

  • Fixed bug that caused the recoil animation to end early or stop animating if a player was firing their weapon for a long period of time.
  • Changed detonation time on smoke and poison gas grenades to prevent them from exploding in mid-air to eliminate unintended FX issues.
  • Added realistic fogging effects to sky-domes.

Technical

  • Fixed most conditions that caused players to be caught in a "respawn loop" which kept restarting the respawn queue when the countdown clock reached 0.
  • Changed in-game conditions to make it less likely to experience in-game freezes.
  • Improved client-side stability.
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Stifler #1 2 years ago

    Was in the beta but never bought the full game. Did every weapon need re-balancing?

  • M_of_the_sys #2 2 years ago

    @Stifler

    The light machine gun was terribly over-balanced. It was very accurate if you shot while moving, near and far away. Some people were able to out snipe snipers with it.

  • Vlad27145 #3 2 years ago

    For once, the term "dramatic" isn't being abused. The changes really DO make a difference. Thx Zipper

  • DrDamn #4 2 years ago

    Some really nice stuff there. Biggest changes for me are the reduction in equipment change time (change is very noticeable), reduced respec costs and the reduced damage to kill an incapacitated enemy.

    Having just done a respec prior to the patch at level 30-odd my next one would have been after another 17k xp - now it's 3k. This is great because I spent 5 points on improved resuss, which is nice but actually penalises you using it in terms of xp gained as you just get the regular 10xp for a resuss. If you don't have it then you would get more xp for a resuss and heal for the same effect.

    Killing an incapacitated enemy is not given the attention it deserves by most players. They should add a small xp value to it as well (1xp).
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/10 @ 09:10

  • M_of_the_sys #5 2 years ago

    @DrDamn

    Either way, improved res helps your team.

  • DrDamn #6 2 years ago

    @M_of_the_sys
    Oh yeah absolutely. I just thought that for the outlay it can wait a few more levels, I removed some other stuff which also helps the team to accommodate it and was disappointed.

  • Doctor_What #7 2 years ago

    Cool beans. My housemate loves MAG, and I'm slowly becomign more tempted too.

  • BritishBlue1 #8 2 years ago

    It seems they've fixed every complaint I had with the gameplay when I rented MAG, very impressive. I may consider buying it now.

  • M_of_the_sys #9 2 years ago

    @DrDamn

    I've managed to spec so that all my loadouts have improved res apart from my RPG loadout. It's good how they've done it though. It means no one is really a tank*.

    *Apart from the APCs.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/10 @ 09:28

  • gjgjg #10 2 years ago

    fixed respawn loop? i might go pick it up then.
    bought it day one brought it back day one because of this, i dont mind patches but this kind of major update so soon shows they should be in QA another month. stupid publisher deadlines!

  • bodypopper #11 2 years ago

    Hmm, not knocking the game per se but shouldn't all this have been changed in repsponse to feedback from the lengthy beta process?
    Y'know, before they decided to charge people £40 for a game that apparently wasn't quite there yet.

  • byakuya83 #12 2 years ago

    I suspect all of these issues were picked up during the beta but the developers didn't have the time to fix everything prior to release. It's not such a big deal in an online only game as they know players will have to be online to play so won't have any objection to downloading updates. It also helps that the PS3 has a HDD as standard. As I imagine the update is fairly large!

  • M_of_the_sys #13 2 years ago

    @byakuya83

    I think the patch was about 90MB.

  • markmitt #14 2 years ago

    Post patch 1.03 and MAG STILL has horrendous lag and issues. It's turning into MW2 unfortunately...

  • DrDamn #15 2 years ago

    Very few of these are bug fixes, most are balancing points which you get a lot more data/feedback on when you have the more significant numbers playing after launch so this should be applauded.

    @gjgjg
    I've played over 40 hours now and I've never experienced the respawn loop bug. Obviously it exists as they've done something about it, but it's not so prevalent as to be a reason to take a game back - unless it affects some people a lot more than others.

    @M_of_the_sys
    The loadout design is really nicely done. Attaching cost to items/attachments makes you take tough decisions on what you bring with you in each build.

  • DrDamn #16 2 years ago

    @markmitt
    40 hours of play and I've seen very little lag myself. One of the most impressive aspects for me. Whilst I've been playing mainly Sabotage ("just" 64 players), I've played a fair bit of the other modes too.

  • 00.00.01 #17 2 years ago

    @ markmitt
    Same here as ^^. have clocked a good 30+ hours on MAG now, so far I've only had 1 hang-dead error and hardly ever experience any lag. Maybe once every 10 matches it will do a big 'jump' which, hearing the comments online, happens to evrybody on that map at that moment.
    So....LAGfest, absolutely not. Not even with 256 players on Domination.
    This game is soooo much more and sooo much better than MW2.

  • dsmx #18 2 years ago

    The changes make a big difference the smg has been made piss weak and the lmg is now slightly less overpowered.

  • Murton #19 2 years ago

    LMGs have been fixed, that's great news. Seemed that every single SVER player in the world was rocking the LMG and was a one man army as a result, also good to see the battle rifle improved to make it worth its cost. Gonna try to set aside some time this weekend to play, if I'm not bogged down in Heavy Rain at least.

    Only thing we need now is a mic check on leadership roles to stop those without mics from being officers and the game will be near perfect.

  • DrDamn #20 2 years ago

    @Murton
    Mic check would be a very good idea. Maybe even a small xp boost to those with mics too.

    I think some balancing of the xp system would be beneficial at some point too. FRAGO bonus zones seem very inconsistent sometimes, and whilst I see the benefit of the high xp you get for resuss I think there should be a greater emphasis on those who activate objectives and those around them at the time. You get a pittance for actually setting a charge.

  • Murton #21 2 years ago

    @Dr Damn: increasing the xp for objectives would be great, as would increasing the xp bonuses for completing the overall mission. At the moment the xp for winning the map is seriously low.

    A change to FRAGO bonuses also might just inspire some people to actually battle for the objectives instead of sitting on the ridge pretending to be a sniper. The SVER Sabotage map is almost unplayable because too many members of the attacking team are playing sniper against men on higher ground with superior cover and with both medics and a spawn point right behind them, this leads to those who do try to attack being outnumbered by two or even three to one and therefore being ritually slaughtered.

    In fact I'd like to see a Dishonourable Discharge feature whereby Platoon Leaders can dismiss (kick) troops from their unit (returning them to the main menu with their discharge notice) with the agreement of their squad leader, the number of discharges can then be filed on the players stats screen along with their MVP stat.

  • Stomp224 #22 2 years ago

    Wow, havent played since week after launch, but this patch is a vast improvement! Its a shame Raven still dont know how to co-operate though. :'(

  • Power_n_Glory #23 2 years ago

    Will have to respec. Used to roll with a battle rifle but then found out about the LMG. To down someone with a rifle almost took a full clip and when faced with multiple enemies, you'd have to reload in the middle of a fire fight.

    They really should do something about the squad leader and Mic situation. Platoon leaders and sqaud leaders really need to communicate.

  • davisorle #24 2 years ago

    Dramatic update = Released unfinished

  • byakuya83 #25 2 years ago

    The update seems more aimed at balancing issues than bug fixing so I don't think it was released as unfinished.

    Probably going to pick this up today, am looking forward to another great exclusive for my PS3.

  • knightmt #26 2 years ago

    I find it amazing how different the games are, I prefer when leaders have mics but not everyone who has them uses them and sometimes people have them and use them too much. I still need to join a clan as it is really confusing when there are lots or lone wolves playing.
    I have seen lag in a few games not many, generally very smooth, though I am sure that I have seen it more in domination and acquisition, and have been stuck in a spawn loop, pretty much had to drop out of the game but it is very easy to get into another.
    Weapons are key in MAG and it really takes ages to find one that suits your style, this patch may be confusing for me though I really like respec.

  • seanthejackal #27 2 years ago

    Valor can still walk though walls at the gates...doesn't matter though i still own u bitch ass motherfuckers.

  • markmitt #28 2 years ago

    @DrDamn..

    Well at the this particular moment, post patch 1.07, and nearly 300 hours into MAG, the disconnects, lag, bugs, glitches, and everything else are by far the worse yet. Yes for most users it appears to be fine, but for some, myself included, the game behaves horrendously. Just check out the MAG forums if you don't believe.This is despite BF:BC2 playing perfectly fine...