Overwatch finally has a ping system similar to the one in Apex Legends thanks to some impressive work in the Workshop by none other than DarwinStreams.
Ever since Respawn’s surprise hit Apex Legends came out in February, players have looked at the battle royale game’s ping system and wondered if something like it would work in Overwatch.
Overwatch obviously doesn’t have weapons or ammo to ping, but a lot of players have thought a system similar to Apex Legends would be beneficial. One that could mark enemies and points on the map that would be really useful, so DarwinStreams decided to run with it.
Finally, an Overwatch ping system
Darwin’s system provides players with four basic commands that each activate an on-screen icon on the ping location or in the direction if the ping is offscreen.
Players can tell each other to group up, attack a certain position, mark an enemy hero or tell everyone else the healers are in trouble and need help (AKA peeling for supports).
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“There are definitely a lot of limitations that should be added for that to be used in a competitive environment to avoid trolling/spamming,” Darwin told Dexerto. “But in a stack or Scrim situation when people won’t troll, this will definitely come in super useful.”
“Even without additional features the game could definitely improve at least ‘Group up’ to give it more weight, like I did in the mod,” he added.
Could Darwin’s ping be added to Overwatch?
Like the streamer mentioned before, it would take some tweaking to make the system work and not overwhelm players with spam, but as a concept some sort of ping system seems like it would be popular with Overwatch players.
The Workshop is still getting updates on Overwatch’s PTR, and since it’s a brand-new system it’s almost impossible to say exactly when it will make it to the main game and be available for console players.