Blizzard Entertainment
In the wake of the Overwatch 2 beta date announcement and an apologetic video from game director Aaron Keller promising the team would give more consistent updates on progress, the Overwatch 2 news floodgates have officially opened. In this latest update, we’re offered a glimpse of Overwatch 2’s overhauled ping system.
“We wanted to create a system that would enhance voice communication as well as provide alternative ways to share information with your team,” systems designer Gavin Winter says in the blog post.
New features include character-specific callouts in which, when a player makes a ping, their teammates hear that notification in that player’s hero’s voice. The blog gives an example: “if you’re playing Tracer and ping an enemy Reaper, your teammates will hear Tracer call out that Reaper’s location.” The blog goes into further detail about how pings will show the last-known location for moving enemies, giving players more information on how to move through maps without worry of getting ambushed. There’s also a new feature that’ll ping a teammate’s location on the mini-map and allow players to respond to pings based on choices made in a new communication wheel. Now, whenever a team’s Genji starts spamming “I need healing,” the game will actually show friendly healers that Genji’s location on the mini-map so they can heal and thus shut him the hell up.
An improved ping system has been a long-time ask from Overwatch players. Not only does it improve a team’s ability to communicate, but it’s also an important accessibility tool for players who can’t (or won’t) participate in voice chat. The developers did note that the new ping system is a work in progress and subject to change as the game’s closed beta nears.