Get the 128-person gang back together: MAG 2.0 patch available now
It's probably been a while since you rallied your clan beneath the sacred banner of your PMC of choice for a 256-player skirmish in the conflict-torn battlefields of MAG. Today's as good a day as any to call your old war buddies to arms -- Zipper Interactive has activated patch 2.0 for the game, which introduces a wide variety of sweeping changes to a number of gameplay mechanics and character progression systems. The developer also increased the game's level cap, added Move support, and introduced a "clan deploy" feature, which lets your entire clan queue up for a match. Convenient!
Also, they bumped up the maximum number of players in a single game to 257, and man, you can really tell the difference. That one dude adds a level of intensity that -- okay, fine, that's not one of the changes. The real changes can be read after the jump.
Gameplay (General)
Character level cap has been increased from level 60
to level 70Added new "Supply Depot" menu and in-game economy
system (see "Gameplay – Economy" section for details)Implemented new "Clan Deploy" feature that allows
Clan Leaders and Officers to deploy into group queues of up to
128 playersCharacters moving from MAG v1.XX to MAG 2.0 will
receive an immediate and automatic Respec the first time they
log inRepair Kits can now inflict damage on enemy soldiers,
vehicles and objectivesXP rate for "Repair" has been increased from 1.5XP/
10pts to 3XP/ 10ptsPlayers can now track all "sprinting" enemies on the
mini-map without the need for equipmentAll "Damage Bar" rates for "Domination" maps have
reverted back to their original (and identical) valuesTuned the frequency in which a player can jump to
eliminate "bunny hopper" techniquesReduced helicopter settle time, widened turret
rotation and significantly increased health to strengthen their
use as a forward spawn pointThe "Silent Step" OIC Leadership ability now works as
intended by allowing nearby squadmates to move at both regular
and running speeds without detection from the motion sensor –
does not stack with any related skills or modifiers
Gameplay – (Economy)
Added in-game currency known as "Currency Points
(CP)" that is awarded for by completing objectives, earning
ribbons, finishing missions, and killing enemiesAll gear and weapons are now located by default or
can be sold or purchased in the "Supply Depot" menu
Gameplay – (Economy)
Added in-game currency known as "Currency Points
(CP)" that is awarded for by completing objectives, earning
ribbons, finishing missions, and killing enemiesAll gear and weapons are now located by default or
can be sold or purchased in the "Supply Depot" menu
Gameplay – Skills (Overall)
All Skills cost only one point per unlock, allowing
players to purchase new skills with every level increaseRemoved all gear and weapon attainment from the
"Skills" menu, they now reside in the separate "Supply Depot"Added "Engineering, Medical, Resistances, Special
Ops," and 'Vehicles" meta-categories to the "Skills" menuRemoved "Electronics, Explosives, Heavy, Personal
Defense," and "Support" meta-categories from the "Skills" menuEach meta-category in the "Skills" menu now has
multi-branching pathsThe "Advanced Grenades, Improved Resuscitation,
Improved Shot Detection, Improved Stealth," and "Knives
Expanded Reach" skills have all been eliminated or rolled into
other skills (see Skills sub-sections below for details)Respec Points progression has been changed from 1K,
2K, 3K, 3K-Repeat to 1K, 3K, 5K, 5K-RepeatRespec Points can no longer be "banked" and are
capped at the amount needed for the next Respec
Gameplay – Skills (Assault)
Added the following skills to the "Assault" menu:
"Assault Swap Speed" and "Rocket Launcher Reload Speed"Added three upgrade tiers to the following "Assault"
skills: "Assault Reload Speed, Assault Rifle Steady Aim,
Assault Swap Speed, Grenade Launcher Reload Speed," and "Rocket
Launcher Reload Speed""Assault Reload Speed" skill has changed and now
decreases the reload time for all assault rifles and machine
guns"Assault Rifle Improved Stability" skill has been
renamed to "Assault Recoil Stability" and has been changed to
reduce the recoil on all assault rifles and machine guns"Assault Swap Speed" skill has been changed and now
decreases the amount of time it takes to swap assault rifles,
machine guns, rocket launchers and grenade launchers
Gameplay – Skills (Marksman)
Added the following skills to the "Marksman" menu:
"Increased Scope Magnification, Marksman Fire Rate, Marksman
Recoil Stability" and "Marksman Swap Speed"Added three upgrade tiers to the following "Marksman"
skills: "Increased Scope Magnification, Marksman Fire Rate,
Marksman Reload Speed, Marksman Recoil Stability, Marksman
Steady Aim," and "Marksman Swap Speed"New "Increased Scope Magnification" skill increases
the level of zoom when using a scope on a sniper rifleNew "Marksman Fire Rate" skill increases the rate of
fire for all sniper riflesNew "Marksman Recoil Stability" skill reduces the
amount of recoil on sniper riflesNew "Marksman Swap Speed" skill decreases the amount
of time it takes to swap sniper rifles
Gameplay – Skills (Close Quarters)
Added the following skills to the "Close Quarters"
menu: "Close Quarters Fire Rate, Close Quarters Swap Speed,
Improved Knife Damage," and "Knife Frequency"Added three upgrade tiers to the following "Close
Quarters" skills: "Close Quarters Fire Rate, Close Quarters
Recoil Stability, Close Quarters Reload Speed, Close Quarters
Swap Speed, Improved Knife Damage," and "Knife Frequency""Close Quarters Improved Stability" skill has been
renamed to "Close Quarters Recoil" stability and has been
changed to reduced recoil on all pistols, personal defense
weapons, submachine guns and shotgunsNew "Close Quarters Fire Rate" skill increases the
fire rate of all pistols, personal defense weapons, submachine
guns and shotgunsNew "Close Quarters Swap Speed" skill decreases the
amount of time it takes to swap all pistols, personal defense
weapons, submachine guns and shotgunsNew "Improved Knife Damage" skill increases the
amount of damage knife attacks do to enemy soldiers"Knives Improved Swipe Speed" Skill has been renamed
to Knife Frequency" skill, which decreases the time between
knife attacks
Gameplay – Skills (Special Ops)
Added the following skills, all with three-tiered
upgrades, to the "Special Ops" menu: "Extended Tracking
Duration, Improved Acoustic Locator, Improved Explosive
Detector, Improved Motion Tracker, Improved Sensor Jammer" and
"Improved Suppressors"New "Extended Tracking Duration" skill increases the
amount of time a detected enemy is tracked on the mini-map and
CNINew "Improved Acoustic Locator" skill increases the
effective range of an equipped Acoustic Locator gear itemNew "Improved Explosive Detector" skill allows a
soldier with an Explosives Detector gear item equipped to
approach enemy mines while prone without triggering themNew "Improved Motion Tracker" skill increases the
range an equipped Motion Tracker gear item detects enemy
movementNew "Improved Sensor Jammer" skill allows a soldier
with Sensor Jammer gear items to move at a faster rate before
being spotted by enemy Motion Trackers, as well as masking
nearby squadmatesNew "Improved Suppressors" skill increases the
effectiveness of any suppressor when mounted on a weapon
Gameplay – Skills (Medical)
Added the following skills, all with three-tiered
upgrades, to the "Medical" menu: "Heal Recharge Rate, Improved
Healing, Improved Resupply Rate, Medical Kit Heal Range, Self
Heal Speed," and "Resuscitation"New "Heal Recharge Rate" skill reduces the time
between medical kit and first aid kit applicationsNew "Improved Resupply Rate" skill reduces the time
it takes to refill your gear and ammo at supply pointsNew "Medical Kit Heal Range" skill increases the
range a medical kit can heal wounded teammatesNew "Self Heal Speed" skill decreases the time it
takes to apply a first aid kit or medical kit when self-healing
Gameplay – Skills (Engineering)
Added the following skills, all with three-tiered
upgrades, to the "Engineering" menu: "Advanced Electronics,
Advanced Explosives, Improved Repair Kit Damage, Improved
Repairing," and "Mine Deploy Speed"New "Advanced Electronics" skill decreases the amount
of time it takes to take control of battlefield
electronics-based objectivesNew "Improved Repair Kit Damage" skill increases the
amount of damage the repair kit does to enemy soldiers,
vehicles and objective assetsNew "Mine Deploy Speed" skill reduces the amount of
time it takes to deploy anti-personnel and anti-tank mines
Gameplay – Skills (Athleticism)
Added the following skills to the "Athleticism" menu:
"Increased Launcher Move Speed, Increased Move Speed," and
"Improved Sprint Speed"Added three upgrade tiers to the following
"Athleticism" skills: "Advanced Paratrooper, Increased
Endurance, Increased Launcher Move Speed, Increased Move Speed,
Improved Sprint Recovery," and "Improved Sprint Speed"New "Increased Launcher Move Speed" skill increases
the top speed a soldier moves and aims while holding a rocket
launcherNew "Increased Move Speed" skill increases the top
speed a soldier moves normallyNew "Improved Sprint Speed" skill increases the top
speed a soldier moves while sprinting
Gameplay – Skills (Vehicles)
Added the following skills, all with three-tiered
upgrades, to the "Vehicles" menu: "Improved Smoke Screen Rate,
Improved Turret Cooldown, Improved Vehicle Awareness, Improved
Vehicle Impact Damage, Increased Vehicle Speed," and "Vehicle
Mine Resistance"New "Improved Smoke Screen Rate" skill reduces the
amount of time between smoke screens activated by the driver of
the vehicleNew "Improved Turret Cooldown" skill reduces the time
it takes for the soldier's turret weapon to cool down after it
has overheatedNew "Improved Vehicle Awareness" skill makes the
mini-map visible while a soldier is manning a vehicle or bunker
turret and can be upgraded to add base Acoustic Locator and
Motion Tracker functionalityNew "Improved Vehicle Impact Damage" skill increases
the amount of damage inflicted on enemy soldiers when impacted
by the driver's vehicleNew "Increased Vehicle Speed" skill increases the top
speed of the vehicle the soldier is drivingNew "Vehicle Mine Resistance" skill decreases the
amount of damage a vehicle the soldier is driving takes from
enemy anti-vehicle mines
Gameplay – Skills (Resistances)
Added the following skills, all with three-tiered
upgrades, to the "Resistances" menu: "Chemical Damage
Resistance, Extended Bleedout, Explosive Damage Resistance
Flashbang Resistance, Impact Damage Resistance," and "Increased
Health"New "Extended Bleedout" skill increases the time a
soldier can remain incapacitated before he bleeds outNew "Flashbang Resistance" skill decreases the
duration a soldier is affected by flashbang grenades
Weapons
Increased base damage on most automatic weapons by an
average of 15%Improved the spread rate of Assault Rifles and
Submachine guns when auto-firing so that they remain accurate
longerAll suppressors now reduce shooting detection range
by half of their old default valueKnife tuning: Reduced range by roughly 30 centimeters
and decreased default "facing" damage bonusesKnife tuning: Changed knife attack angle so that a
hit requires target to be closer to the center of the screenShotgun tuning: Corrected issue that prevented all
shotguns from reloading when the player was still holding the
"fire" buttonExplosive tuning: Anti-personnel Mines now have a
"line of sight" check for detonation and have been given a more
realistic damage coneExplosive tuning: Increased "Anti-tank Mine" damage
to vehicles by 50%
Gear and Apparel
Explosives Detector no longer beeps when in proximity
of a teammate's mines - only when near an enemy's; beep
frequency has also been adjustedMotion Tracker has been updated so that it is no
longer based on an enemy's speed and is now based on an enemy's
stance, detecting movement for all un-jammed playersThe Sensor Jammer had been updated so that all prone
movement by the equipped player is masked; can be enhanced with
"Improved Sensor Jammer" skill to mask crouched movement at
level 1, walking at level 2 and sprinting at level 3Light/ Improved Light Armor base speed has been
reduced by nearly 3%Heavy/ Improved Heavy Armor base speed has been
increased by nearly 3%Light and Heavy Armor types have been given "bonus"
modifiers when used in conjunction with "Speed" skills so that
Light Armors receive greater benefits and Heavy Armors receive
lesser benefits
Interface
Added "Community News" page to better inform players
in-game of all MAG-related events or promotionsDifferent grenade types now show specific in-game
icons when thrownRepaired bug that would sometimes result in the
post-game results screen displaying the incorrect amount of
earned XPAdded "Total Awarded Currency Points" to "Bonuses"
section of the character "Stats" page
Audio/ Visual
Thrown or launched grenades now have a "trail" effect
as well as an updated overall appearance to make them more
visible on the battlefieldSolved issue that prevented equipped grenades to
appear in the player's hand prior to throwing themAn assortment of camera and animation optimizations
for various scenarios including but not limited to iron sight/
laser sight zoom, ladder climbing, mine placement,
self-healing, and weapon swappingImproved presentation of the character "jump"
animationUpdated various pieces of artwork with newer versions
for better performanceFixed issue that sometimes prevented medical device
appearance and/ or animations from displaying properlyIncreased the Sensor Array's animation time to match
the duration of its usageRepaired bug that prevented the "Alarm" audio from
being played when charges were planted at "Objective C" in the
"Syr Daria Uplink" and "Darrien Network" mapsSlightly lowered the amount of camera shake from air
strikes, explosions, and when firing weaponsRepaired camera "pop" problem that would sometimes
occur when sprinting out of a parachute dropRemoved "shiny" graphics that would randomly appear
on bridges for all maps in which a bridge is presentFixed issue that prevented win/ loss voice-over from
being played when game clock expires in "Interdiction" modeImproved visual appearance of the Ribbon awards
Technical
MAG now fully supports the PlayStation Move
peripheralFixed "Spooning Elevator" bug that allowed players
who revived downed teammates while laying on top of them to
float upwards and reach areas not intended to be accessed"MVP" criteria no longer considers bonus XP modifiers
in its equationRepaired issue that disconnected some members of
large-sized clans from the MAG game environment when logging inFixed issue that would sometimes halt the patching
process at 99% of the install periodResupply Depots have been optimized so that the meter
accurately reflects what is being resupplied and the resupply
process itself is more efficientPlayers can no longer take the driver's seat in
vehicles that are not their squad's "spawn" APC, but can take
any other seat in the vehicle regardless if their squad "owns"
the APC or notRepaired issue with "Happy Hour" timer that would
sometimes shave a few minutes off the correct totalSolved problem that sometimes caused incapacitated
players to rotate and move aroundPlayers are now prevented from spawning inside a
helicopter that is headed out of the mapMended problem that caused the "Primary Objectives
Completed" stat to sometimes double for various game typesMade additional fixes for rare "game crash" scenarios
Various localization updates and changes