Valorant ping system set for major “tactical” overhaul

A Riot Games dev has responded to requests to improve Valorant’s ping system, by comparing the “poor” in-game communication system with other shooters, such as Apex Legends and Paladins.

In a fast-paced first-person shooter like Valorant, effective communication is priceless. Having sufficient intel when approaching a situation can often be the difference between life and death.

And while voice comms are often the go-to, this isn’t always the most effective option. For example, trying to call-out an enemy when you don’t know the exact name of the location. This is where the ping system comes into play.

The in-game ping system grants players the ability to signal danger/inform their teammates of their intentions by holding down Z (by default) or holding Period for a more expansive list.

Riot updating Valorant’s ping system

As helpful as Valorant’s in-game communication system is, one player has raised their gripes when comparing it to the likes of Apex Legends or Paladins.

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“Valorant TTS is very poor. If anyone here ever played Paladins, you know what i’m talking about. It has a very intuitive and content rich TTS menu. I could play every match without even using any voice comms. Riot could learn a thing or two analyzing the Paladins TTS system.”

A Riot dev responded to player concerns, stating that they’re “in the process of creating an initial round of new [voice over] lines for major regions on the maps — A, B, C, Mid, etc. — so we can append those to ping and radio command audio.”

The dev continued to explain how the game will embed “more tactical voice over” in updates to come. “The regions already appear in chat, but having the characters say the regions out loud will make a big difference. We plan to add a lot more ‘tactical [voice over]’ over time.”

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So instead of your Agent calling out “here” every time you ping a location, they will call-out specific areas of the map — which will presumably correspond with the callouts on the minimap.

To top things off, the dev teased that a more customizable option could be in the pipeline for the radio communication system, which allows players to access ping wheel comms via a numerical system. In terms of when this can be expected, they simply stated “more on that in the coming months.”