MAG

[patsu]

I had similar thoughts until I picked up a SVER weapon. I'd like whatever they are having ! I think it's an LMG ? I'll need to find a Raven LMG to compare properly.

In a game, I think the advantages may be small. But in a one-on-one encounter, they usually win assuming standard equipment. I'm trying to get more points to power up my guns. I need to get the Claymore first.

The Chemical grenade is also very powerful (I like !). It's a game changer. I have seen people used it to clear out the entire platform of snipers and commandos.


EDIT: I am fine with the unbalance if they acknowledged it and elaborated on the rationale. I will still stay in Raven for the challenge.

Or they can prove with numbers that SVER is not easier to win (Better double check on the data collection and reporting !).

 

[patsu]

This is interesting if the game catches on:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19542994&postcount=2247

They have a lot of work ahead of them though: Tuning the faction balance, giving players latest overview of the current battle. The GNN website is a little off. Don't think they should invest too much money there.

Should keep improving the in-game elements. Even adding 3D gaming is more worthwhile than the GNN concept.

 

[patsu]

The best idea to solicit players' input about map balancing is this:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19544063&postcount=2281

The best way to solve all of this imho, is to get rid of the concept of "home" maps. Just allow every faction to play on any map, on either attack or defense. Then the only balance issue would be the weapons themselves.

Zipper can run this test for a week or two and see how each of us perform in different maps. Go !

 

[Antan]

Joined the Valor faction! Very impressed I must say. I rarely venture online but this just feels awesome! Technically most impressive. A friend of mine at Zipper says the engine only chokes when you litterally have 256 players in one area. Says it's absolute carnage BUT has a very slim chance of actually happening in a game. Also says there's plenty of great stuff coming.

 

[obonicus]

There seem to have been lag issues, though. I wonder if it was just them underestimating demand.

And yes, join Valor.

 

[macabre]

Got the game today. Played the training and a few matches on my own then met up with my clan.
There were about 20 guys on so I couldn`t join the main squads but finally we managed to get a group of 5-6. We played 6 or 7 hours straight, it was amazing ! We won about 70% of our matches, I think that`s great for the first time. Should get better when we organise teams with certain loadouts etc.
I forgot to ask them, what does the number with the clan tag on the lower left show (in the game mode screen) ? Some sort of rank ?

 

[patsu]

There seem to have been lag issues, though. I wonder if it was just them underestimating demand.

Yesterday, for about 20-30 seconds, I kept teleporting back to 2-3 seconds ago as I ran towards my objective. I reckon the server was overloaded. Was fine for the rest of the game after that.

And yes, join Valor.

Valor is fine. I don't see a lot of "differences" between Valor and Raven. SVER is the controversial one. [size=-2]It's for the noobs ! [/size]

EDIT: I personally don't mind SVER being an easier faction to play (as intended). Someday if I find that I am not talented enough to beat you guys. I will fallback on SVER. ^_^ I think it's a good way to start MAG too. Some GAFers are switching/graduating from SVER after they hit level 60. Would be good if Zipper say something.

I played Uncharted 2 today coz I don't have MAG at home. I think one of the big pluses is I don't see high level boosted players running around dominating the level with shotgun/grenade launcher. Everyone dies very quickly when they are careless. So everyone sticks together and plays conservatively (kinda like the old KZ2).

 

[patsu]

Got the game today. Played the training and a few matches on my own then met up with my clan.
There were about 20 guys on so I couldn`t join the main squads but finally we managed to get a group of 5-6. We played 6 or 7 hours straight, it was amazing ! We won about 70% of our matches, I think that`s great for the first time. Should get better when we organise teams with certain loadouts etc.
I forgot to ask them, what does the number with the clan tag on the lower left show (in the game mode screen) ? Some sort of rank ?

Wait, don't think you're on my friends list. I saw Eyes and obonicus playing MAG today. Eyes is JPT, not you, right ?

 

[Cornsnake]

I wish the APC's were a bit more effective for running transport vehicle's of the road. Crashing into them head on stops them nicely, but trying to push them off the road hardly works. And that "minefield" surrounding the map is a bit annoying. They can drive straight through it, but I, driving right next to them magically explode.

For anyone playing Acquisition or Domination, make a loadout, or use the default one, with the rocketlauncher. It's good for taking out APC's, transport vehicle's, helicopter's, and bunker turrets. They all take 4 rocket's to destroy, but you can only carry 3. So no one person can take them down quickly.

The best idea to solicit players' input about map balancing is this:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19544063&postcount=2281



Zipper can run this test for a week or two and see how each of us perform in different maps. Go !

I do like idea of having "home" maps. It's really just SVER's maps that are the problem, make those more like Raven's and Valor's and it's fine. Right now the problem is also made worse by people quitting on SVER's maps. I hope Zipper does something about this quickly because it's only going to get worse. As soon as the first people start quitting, more will follow, leaving you severely outnumbered.

I forgot to ask them, what does the number with the clan tag on the lower left show (in the game mode screen) ? Some sort of rank ?

I think those are the number of clan invites you have.

 

[patsu]

I do like idea of having "home" maps. It's really just SVER's maps that are the problem, make those more like Raven's and Valor's and it's fine. Right now the problem is also made worse by people quitting on SVER's maps. I hope Zipper does something about this quickly because it's only going to get worse. As soon as the first people start quitting, more will follow, leaving you severely outnumbered.

If they are changing SVER maps, then they should definitely give us a heads up. The "rotate map" idea may be a good stop-gap in the mean time. Would help me figure out how to attack SVER bases better.

So far, I have been playing Sabotage only. Intend to stay in this mode until I get the RPG, Claymore, chemical grenade and a machine gun.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As soon as the first people start quitting, more will follow, leaving you severely outnumbered.

I don't understand why developers don't add bonuses for non-quitters. It seems an obvious choice to me. eg. If in U2 one guy quits, in maybe Plunder, the team of 4 are at a huge disadvantage. So if it were me, I'd increase their round pay by 20% or something. I played one game where only me and another guy stuck it out to the end - we should have got a substantial endurance bonus!

At the moment developers to seem to go all 'stick' on gamers. "Either carry on playing where you lose a lot due to poor balancing and get frustrated, or quit and get penalised." It reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin is 'damned if he does; damned if he doesn't' play baseball.

 

[Cornsnake]

If they are changing SVER maps, then they should definitely give us a heads up. The "rotate map" idea may be a good stop-gap in the mean time. Would help me figure out how to attack SVER bases better.

So far, I have been playing Sabotage only. Intend to stay in this mode until I get the RPG, Claymore, chemical grenade and a machine gun.

For SVER Sabotage A trying to get between their spawn and A works well, and using smoke grenades to hide your movements. A is more difficult then B. If possible, getting one of the squads that are assigned to B to help you capture it is good strategy. Holding A after that is a lot easier, freeing up that extra squad to go back to B. Taking B is all about securing the far right wall. It gives you an easy access onto B, and keeps the snipers from laying down suppressive fire on B. For C it's best to get between both sides spawns and C.

I don't know the SVER Domination and Acquisition well enough for the best strategies. (Because those maps are incredible huge). But it's generally a good idea to take down the bunkers starting with the furthest left or right. Don't bother with the burn off towers until their down, because most bunkers can easily take you out with their turrets. If you can find a safe place to do it, destroying the turrets is also helpful. Blowing up the AA, if you can get to it, also works well because it enables the forward spawn. And let's the platoon leaders do bombing runs.

I don't understand why developers don't add bonuses for non-quitters. It seems an obvious choice to me. eg. If in U2 one guy quits, in maybe Plunder, the team of 4 are at a huge disadvantage. So if it were me, I'd increase their round pay by 20% or something. I played one game where only me and another guy stuck it out to the end - we should have got a substantial endurance bonus!

At the moment developers to seem to go all 'stick' on gamers. "Either carry on playing where you lose a lot due to poor balancing and get frustrated, or quit and get penalised." It reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin is 'damned if he does; damned if he doesn't' play baseball.

Something like that would probably be a good idea. All they do now is take away all the XP you've earned during that particular game. But that's more punishing towards those that held out longer, and may have actually have a lot to lose. In a 20 to 30 minutes game, choosing between losing all your XP, or getting killed the whole time, is a pretty bad thing to have to do.

 

[patsu]

For SVER Sabotage A trying to get between their spawn and A works well, and using smoke grenades to hide your movements. A is more difficult then B. If possible, getting one of the squads that are assigned to B to help you capture it is good strategy. Holding A after that is a lot easier, freeing up that extra squad to go back to B. Taking B is all about securing the far right wall. It gives you an easy access onto B, and keeps the snipers from laying down suppressive fire on B. For C it's best to get between both sides spawns and C.

Yeah, I think SVER Sabotage map is challenging but fun. I know the SVER Domination map is hell with all those turrets.

For SVER Objective A, I think it's possible to clear the central path by deploying a squad of snipers and supporting fire on the far left. I was able to clear all the SVER soldiers all the way right up to the staircase into the building. Unfortunately, they would dispatch 1-2 soldiers to flank me.

For Objective B, I have spent most of my time clearing the far right wall as you mentioned. It's a difficult task because they usually rig the place with Claymores. Some would also let us pass first, and then open fire on us from our back. Have to be extremely careful when sweeping the area.

Personally, I like the SVER Sabo map more than the Valor Sabo map despite (or rather because of) these challenges.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How are people finding the leadership and objective aspect? Are people working as squads/teams and executing sensible, productive maneouvres, or is it just a chaotic mess, or somewhere in between?

 

[macabre]

I think those are the number of clan invites you have.

I don`t think so. The number went down the more we were playing...maybe it`s just the number of people that are online in the clan....


patsu, I`ll send a friend invite

 

[Cornsnake]

How are people finding the leadership and objective aspect? Are people working as squads/teams and executing sensible, productive maneouvres, or is it just a chaotic mess, or somewhere in between?

Somewhere in between I'd say. It requires a bit of luck to find a good squad. When you do the teamwork is great. If not, it's just choas. A lot of people are still trying to figure out how the game works. Not even understanding to basics, like not bleeding out, or reviving others. I'm very disappointed by the training mission. All really does is explain the controls, but not how the game works. And the manual isn't any better.

I don`t think so. The number went down the more we were playing...maybe it`s just the number of people that are online in the clan...

Mine says 2, matching the number of clan invites I have. But the number of invites is rather useless after you join a clan. So your probably right.

 

[Cornsnake]

http://forums.mag.com/mag/board/message?board.id=generaldiscussion&thread.id=226287

A nice guide to SVER's Sabotage, Acquisition, and Domination maps.

 

[patsu]

How are people finding the leadership and objective aspect? Are people working as squads/teams and executing sensible, productive maneouvres, or is it just a chaotic mess, or somewhere in between?

Spotty. Depends on your luck. But people are figuring things out.

The guide Cornsnake linked to contains good details about how the game should be played. If you look at his SVER Sabotage plan, you'll see that he recommended against what I suggested. This is because my suggestion is risky/simplistic, and assumes that the other side is not cunning enough.

In practice, people make mistakes (lot's of 'em). We were able to take Obj. A 3 times with a simpler plan (much easier to coordinate with only 1-2 squads) and I guess quite a bit of luck. Of these 3 times, only one of them had a squad leader who commanded properly. Smoke grenade definitely helped. I also learned from his experiences and try to apply it in subsequent games where appropriate.

I think a future patch should bring in combat engineers who can repair broken paths, effectively changing the maps. Right now, they can only repair assets like bunkers, simple obstacles and vehicles.

Somewhere in between I'd say. It requires a bit of luck to find a good squad. When you do the teamwork is great. If not, it's just choas. A lot of people are still trying to figure out how the game works. Not even understanding to basics, like not bleeding out, or reviving others. I'm very disappointed by the training mission. All really does is explain the controls, but not how the game works. And the manual isn't any better.

I learned about the strategic importance of bunkers only yesterday. I think they should make a series of short training videos available in the Training area (or even during spawn time for quick reference). We can compare the scenes in the video with what we are seeing in-game that way.


It's good to see people play using their brains though. Right now I find it jarring when an experienced player with a powerful weapon combo own everyone else in other shooters.

 

[patsu]

I can't find a good video showing Raven sabotaging SVER, but here's the feared SVER level (Domination mode):

In this case, GAF Raven was able to get inside the base (probably still lost).


EDIT: I think a MAG player would be able to appreciate the video more. At some point, I feel like firing up the game and join them right away. They got much MUCH further than I ever did in the beta.

The other way to balance SVER, assuming it's intended as an "easy/beginner" faction, is to gimp the XP... so that other factions level up faster (when playing against SVER). It would tip the advantage over to them at some point.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

So is MAG good or bad?

Reviews say not so good. Im on the fence. Any demo?