by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Communication is one of the cornerstones of good teamwork, and we all know how important teamwork is in Heroes of the Storm.  Good communication is easy when you are playing with your friends and everyone is in voice chat, but it can be much more difficult when you are playing a Quick Match with four strangers.  Typing can be fine in certain situations, but it doesn’t work well during team fights, or when quick reactions are required.  If you have ever died while trying to type something, then I don’t need to tell you about the downsides of trying to type and play at the same time.  Luckily, there is a system in place to help with this, but most players don’t use it as much as they should.  It is called the ping system, and it has more than enough depth to allow teams to coordinate without the need for voice chat or extensive typing.

The two most commonly used pings are general and retreat pings.  A general ping consist of a pulsing red light on the mini map, along with what can only be described as a ping sound.  General pings can have a variety of meanings, but their basic purpose is to draw attention to something.  To make a general ping, simply hold the G key and left click on the desired part of the battlefield or mini map.  Retreat pings result in a flashing white flag icon on the mini map, along with a more urgent sound effect.  As the name implies, a retreat ping means that it is time to fall back.  This may sound quite simple, but this type of ping can be incredibly useful to get your team to withdraw as a group.  Anyone can make a retreat ping, but it can be an especially useful way for the tank or healer let the team that they are leaving the fight.  Retreat pings are made by holding the V key while clicking on the battlefield or mini map.  These are your two basic pings, and most players are familiar with them.  There is an additional layer to the ping system though, and a surprising amount of players either don’t know about it or don’t know how to use it.  This next feature is called the radial dial.

As you can see, the radial dial gives you access to several more detailed types of pings.  While general pings are good, they can only get you so far since their meaning isn’t always clear.  If someone pings on the opposing Butcher, you still have to figure out if they want you to attack him or to avoid him.  If they ping on the boss, do they want to try and capture it, or are they trying to suggest that the opponent might be trying to take it?  This is where the radial dial shines.

You can access the radial dial two ways.  Hold either the Alt or the G key, while left clicking, and the radial dial will appear.  Just like with the first two types of pings, you can use the radial dial by clicking on either the battlefield or the mini map.  Either way, once you access the radial dial you simply select the appropriate type of ping with your mouse.  As you can see, each type of ping is represented by an icon, as well as a name.  The Danger ping will place a yellow exclamation point on the map, and is accompanied by a low chime sound.  The On My Way ping is represented on the map by a green boot icon, as well as a ding type of sound.  The Assist Me ping displays a yellow hand icon on the map, and plays whistling type of sound.  The Defend ping is marked by a purple shield icon on the map, and has a metallic thud sound.  It is a good idea to experiment in Training Mode with these different pings in order to get used to the visual and audio clues that accompany them.  Your goal is to not only be able to easily use them yourself, but to also quickly recognize the sights and sounds when other players use them as well.

As helpful as pings are, they are best used with a “less-is-more mentality.”  Constant pings are not only a distraction, they also make it difficult to identify the important pings.  Save your pings for key situations, and do not spam the same ping over and over.  If your teammates don’t get the message after the first or second ping, they aren’t likely to get it after five or six pings either.  Personally, I think the only ping that you could make a case for using repeatedly is the retreat ping, and even then that is only after you have given your team ample time to react.  To be clear, “repeatedly” means that after a few seconds, if they are still not falling back, maybe you hit it a second time.  I don’t mean hammer out five retreat pings in two seconds.  You can actually have your ping privileges blocked if you abuse the amount of pings that you use.

All of that said, proper use of the ping system can be a powerful tool.  This extra bit of information can allow your team to respond more quickly and effectively, especially in solo queue games where communication is limited.  While voice chat is great, you can easily convey all of the information that your team needs thru the ping system.

In the future, we will talk about other ways to improve your game thru communication, but I wanted to start with pings because they are so simple, yet so effective.  They are also underused, a fact that was reinforced upon me this week when I watched a Thrall die trying to solo a mercenary camp without ever asking for help.  Don’t be a Thrall.  Use the ping system, and even more important run away before the mercs kill you!  Good luck and have fun!