Overwatch 2 is getting a ping system; here’s how it works

polygon.com:

Overwatch players who don’t use voice chat may not get much communication from their teammates, with the exception of “I need healing!” being spammed at their team’s healers. Blizzard is hoping to address that with Overwatch 2, enhancing communication with a new ping system — à la Apex Legends — that will add context to callouts and chat in multiplayer games.

On Thursday, Blizzard offered an in-depth breakdown of Overwatch2’s ping system, showing how contextual pings will expand upon Overwatch’s existing communication wheel. Players will be able to “activate a contextual ping depending on what you’re aiming at within your line of sight” with the press of a button, Blizzard said. “For example, if you’re playing Tracer and ping an enemy Reaper, your teammates will hear Tracer call out that Reaper’s location.” Should that Reaper use his Shadow Step or Wraith Form abilities, breaking line of sight, the ping will show his last known location.

“One of our goals was to augment speech and give people a way to visually interpret voice communication,” systems designer Gavin Winter said in a post on the Overwatch website. Principal designer Adam Puhl added, “It’s a more accurate, clear, and understandable way of communicating rather than hearing someone yell, ‘Reaper behind,’ or, ‘Reaper, Reaper, Reaper!’”

Overwatch 2 players will also be able to use the ping system to respond to their teammates’ pings. In another example, a Mei is shown responding to a Soldier: 76’s request to “Group up” with four options: “yes,” “no,” “ready,” or “go.”

Winter said that the system is designed to “help with toxicity in-game,” and that Blizzard is adding systems to contend with players spamming pings — players will have the option to turn off pings