English Snake, The Lost Interview [MAG]

For all of you who have played, or are currently still playing MAG, this interview will bring back memories. Memories of both the online PMC wars, and the true spirit of MAG players during the game's prime.



-Which PMC do you hate most and why?

SVER by far
1. It’s their background they are the scum of the shadow war a mixture of street thugs/communists and terrorists which use underhanded tactics to win.
2. SVER ego always going ‘we have teamwork and skills learn to play’ against the other PMCs early on, 7months down the line Raven got a proper map fix and now SVER can’t do **bleep** and try blaming it on weapons or the damage bar, they still have the strongest Domination map! Its piss easy to defend. I don’t think they ever realised that there map helped out the randoms alot more, plus it was the only working map with no flaws tbh and they attacked 2 weaker maps not to mention the bunkerline which creates a false sense on teamwork since the bunkers are so close to each other.
3. Orange everywhere it’s like the tango man threw up everywhere plus the maps look like a **bleep**hole.

-Does s.v.e.r. really have the worst weapons? If so, explain.

LMAO no they don’t they just think they do.
1. Basic AR best there is, has stopping power and the iron sights are nice and clear.
2. Tier 2 AR AG-94, once again has stopping power but it aint no slouch either quite fast fire rate and is a head shot machine I found, ATAC only beats it’s for me since it has a free foregrip saves on cc and 2 skill points.
3. PSK is a beast, mows down enemies like a mother**bleep**er.
4. Shotgun, pretty much all shotguns quite the same in all PMCs but they suffer from being inconsistent, beta sorts it out though.

Attachments – The reflex sight is massive like having a see through Frisbee stuck onto your gun which is good because it lets you see more of the battlefield and the surrounding area around the enemy meaning you can easily switch targets if you have to.

End of the day for me it’s the player, the gun doesn’t aim for you, the gun doesn’t fire for you, and it requires input from the player to make the gun work for them.
Sidenote: (Well maybe in soviet Russia, “gun aims and fires you”)


-Is the knife cheap and for the feeble?

It’s annoying, but overall no its there to be used, sure sometimes it’s about who can spam R3 the quickest but also lag/latency enters the mixture. In retail the knife is about right 2 hits from the front and 1 to the back.

Some say it should be equipable but we would still have knife users running around with the knife anyway.

But right now it ain’t broke so don’t fix it.

-Has Zipper been perfect with MAG?

No, far from it in reality.
1.Faction loyalty – Making alt accounts to be used I can deal with I don’t think that is wrong because what happens if you get pissed off at SVER and want out ASAP 50ish levels will suck, easier to delete. The new character slots that you can buy is okay it’s a good way to try out the other factions if you really don’t want to vet your main over. It’s the trophies that make you have to vet to Raven and SVER, really platinum should have been available on 1 faction but poor map design made you vet over since Raven had no bridges to blow up or they should have removed the trophies that were not achievable on all 3 factions.

1a. Contracts – Could have been tied to the maps so the losing faction loses there map and the winner keeps it until it switches over, of course the contract turnover rate would have to be like a weeklong instead of a few hours but another way of faction loyalty.

1b. Map vandalization – Taken maps get redone by the faction which took it over, i.e. if Valor lost their maps to SVER the tents would be burned and cars on fire with SVER flags flying and Valors ripped down for example and if your loyal you wouldn’t want to see SVER ruin your mountain map would you?

2. Map design – How on earth did the Domination maps get released in this sorry state, Raven having no roofs = mass bombings, the walkways to the AAA on the boats I’m surprised they didn’t lay out the red carpet, Mortar placements on 2nd and 4th Platoons in the way of the attacker once they go down they rarely get back up. Valor no roadblocks just let them drive to the back, SVER 1 sensor shell = 2 helicopters blown up that’s OP. 7months of this did drive players away or to SVER, I know players who hated SVERs maps but probably more so because the other maps were broken to begin with so a hard time defending and a hard time attacking hence SVER OP mainly because of broken maps.

3. Groups – 8 man groups, Zipper knew clans would love this and to dominate but also groups in general but it would hurt randoms, I call BS. Randoms get hurt anyways by clans so if they saw massive groups and teamwork I think that randoms would have 2 choices and that is to join a clan/make one or continue to get railroaded by organized groups. In the beta massive clans are great especially the one in Valor, a full platoon can really cause damage because they move as one, think as one and destroy as one and it’s the future of MAG because it’s a team based game.

4. Weapons – Always getting tinkered with every patch and also the big **bleep** up with bullet wander added which was not needed, mind you though the community complains so Zipper feel that they have to change it but then it goes from 1 extreme to the other. Beta weapons feel better btw.


-If MAG was on Xbox Live would you play it?

LOL could Xbox even think up an idea like MAG? I don’t think they could in the first place Sony always seem to be the one with groundbreaking games and unique ideas or the best games in general. Microsoft have to pay big bucks to get good games such as MGR and GTA, Microsoft should have stuck with PC tbh.

But to answer the question I don’t have an Xbox, not interested in buying one either and paying monthly just to play online! so no is my answer.


-What type of player annoys you most and why?

Quite a few do and here’s why

In game Extra Heavy armour and LMG tbh, it really takes no skill to use and I should know I used it for long enough and can still do what I used to do months ago. Just hold R1, turning a corner just hold R1, group of enemies hold R1 the spread and recoil help as well. Japanese use this to great effect entire platoons using nothing else but this, it’s a tactic though and you can still beat em but it’s just a general annoyance more than anything now.

Stat **bleep**s back in the early days anyone on SVER since it was easy to defend a working map and easy to attack a broken map so really your stats were skewed thanks to unbalanced maps. Sabotage players basically playing a TDM with the new players of the game likewise Suppression players or the KDR **bleep**s who tend to hide in the gamemodes I just mentioned then boasting about how uber leet they are. No one gives a crap try leading a platoon/company of random blue dots to victory that’s hard work not running around at level 60 boosting off the new players.

Rage quitters – Big whoop you can quit to avoid a loss, we had a chance as the community to stop this but we let the stat **bleep**s and rage quitters get their own way so if your platoon is down half its original size its thanks to these guys. Until there is a punishment it will keep happening

Hot potatoing – Name for it came up for players who drop leadership and then it gets passed around since players don’t want to take it halfway into a game. If your man enough to check the leadership box and man enough to take the wins then be man enough to take the losses. Sure you may have to lead random useless blue dots but remember you wanted to do that so do it, don’t sit there with your mic on complaining about then to your squad when you haven’t even tried to get onto platoon broadcast and tell them what to do. BTW mics must be mandatory for PL/OIC positions we need this badly.

-Do the weapons feel like laser-peashooters or have any real personality?

They have personality, SVER powerful but slow, Raven weak but accurate and fast and Valor smack in the middle

-What is your opinion of Japanese servers?

Pain in the arse when playing against the Japanese I have to always think 3seconds ahead but at least I always know they use heavy armour and LMGs so I know what to expect but for me it not too bad since they play in the afternoon so I just don’t log on to MAG. If we did separate them from the other users around the world we would lose players in the game and queue times would become that bit longer, it’s going to be hard they have awesome internet over there but the rest of the world is badly behind.

-Is the fact that s.v.e.r has 6 hockey masks an indication of s.v.e.r. possibly being zipper’s favourite PMC?

TBH with all the crap that happened at the start of retail seemed to favour SVER such as double diffusing doors in Domination which basically stopped any chance of winning for a while which did get fixed but by that time players quit or joined SVER. Severe map imbalances especially in Domination didn’t help either it so it adds to the fact that Zipper seems to favour SVER but I don’t give a crap if they do really they are hurting their own game if they favour 1 side.

-Is Raven’s spandex too tight? Are Valor’s sleeves (or lack thereof) too short?

Raven has spandex under every armour they wear I’ve noticed, must be an advanced material like it cancels out heat so thermal scopes don’t work lol that’s why they aren’t in the game.

Valor has no sleeves to honour the likes of Rambo or Dutch and his predator hunting team problem is everyone tries to act like them and run off doing their own thing :S.

-Neutral maps? Neutral weapons?

Will kill MAG, no other idea has the potential to do this.

Right now we have players who play for the factions, enjoy defending their maps and beating the invaders and the other group who just want to play without vetting so it’s a bit more varied for a couple of weeks before they ask for more maps.

Faction loyalty will be killed off instantly with this move. Weapons are ultimately down to the player, camo is meh what is this dress up time and you don’t even see your character half the time only the hands might as well give out some gloves or a glove if your an MJ fan but maps is a different story. Maps give identity to each faction we know Valor is mountain based with trees/woodland and the odd river and hunting shacks about the place, Raven based in south America so heavy forests with lots of plants and sunlight but also shiny bases which look like they are flatpack, SVER the **bleep**hole of the factions in the east with communist supporters using weapons from a bye gone age with burnt out cars and bombed out buildings and a sense of evil. It’s the home base of each PMC and represents that.

Plus if it goes neutral it will shaft anyone who is in Valor currently, won’t have a chance to test out there roadblocks instead it will all be neutral and Valor won’t have a chance to claim contracts on their own land.

Also with neutral maps players will be calling for neutral weapons and that will happen. Why have neutral maps if you can’t use other faction’s weapons? Seriously you are using their bases so you should also be allowed to use the other factions weapons maybe it should happen with camo as well. It just makes the factions pointless and all the same, the weapons are close enough to each other as it is and camo is meh but maps are the biggest thing that separates the factions.

More quitters, more maps to play on but more chance for randoms or even clans to cherry pick their favourite maps and avoid the crap maps. Even if they are balanced players will have a favourite map, players already quit out on attacking Raven and SVERs maps so it will still happen.

Shadow war is on its knees right now, this would chop its head off. The Domination maps have a big ol refinery in the middle which serves as base of operations for the PMCs and it’s where they make a bit of money and go to fill up there APCs and Humvees. If neutral took place now and Valor was defending SVERs map it would make no sense at all because Valor are meant to be attacking the competitors while defending their interests. Now the shadow war doesn’t mean anything to alot of players but it adds to the backstory and it’s why the game is like it is, it’s why Valor is based in America or SVER in the east and Raven in South America and also why the gamemodes are like they are. If there is no shadow war then MAG loses a bit of identity and becomes more generic.

Zipper saying ‘its easier to make more maps’ has deluded the neutral fans tbh, we had Sabotage go neutral time ago but yet we still have no new maps instead we had the numbers drop because of neutral but also a bit to do with the directives bonus. All they have to do is make 1 neutral map to go with the other 3 faction maps.


-Does MAG have a “bright” future?

Yes, Clan deploy a big step the emergence of massive clans which want to dominate in every mode and also hopefully we will see a 128man groups and clans but also on each faction and less randoms.

New skill tree and supply depot, all weapons can be owned and specializing in certain areas is easier and pays off plus more useful for clans as players can specialize, so the beasts can go off and kill, support members spec out in the medical and engineering trees, designated drivers and scout snipers or a jack of all trades.

MAG has the power to do quite well but it needs more support from Sony like advertising but also it needs to stay separate from the other FPS game out on the market to make it unique.