Announced as an integration of the first chapter (at the beginning the two games had to share the PvP mode), in the course of development Overwatch 2 has completely changed its face, going to configure itself as an almost entirely new experience.
As if the transition from 6vs6 to 5vs5 weren’t enough, the redesign of the Tank role and the new Ranked system, Overwatch 2 will also present a new Ping system, currently in an active testing phase. This important news was the subject of an in-depth analysis during the Livestream of yesterday 18 March.
Thanks to this mechanic, already present in successful multiplayer titles such as Apex Legends and Valorant, gamers will be able to report the position of enemies to their teammates to help them identify threats or to implement joint maneuvers.
Game Director Aaron Keller explained that Overwatch 2’s Ping system is “context-sensitive”, in other words, it will depend “on the hero being pinged, the hero the player uses and which heroes are on the opposing team”. For example, “Enemies behind walls cannot be pinged as they cannot be seen. However, if revealed by Hanzo or Widowmaker, you can start pinging those targets . “Other heroes can get rid of the ping instead: this is the case of Moira, who can remove it from herself using the Fade ability.
The system “is also fully customizable,” Keller added. “Not only is it context-sensitive, but it will also have a kind of communications wheel where you can put the types of pings that are most important to you.” Apparently, Blizzard has already received a lot of positive feedback from testers, so at the moment it is working to make the ping system even more “responsive” and “relevant” .
This new mechanic can be tested by the public (or rather, by the lucky ones who will be selected) in the first Closed Beta PvP of Overwatch 2, which will take place on PC starting from April 26, a weeks before the start of the new Overwatch season. League, ready to go on May 5th.