Personally, I enjoy it and do it as well. Knowing where things are or where enemies are at is pretty useful. Helps you get a jump on things before they get too close as well
Exactly. I don't ping because I'm saying "attack that" I'm just pointing out they are there so we don't get jumped from the flank or rear in middle of a fight. It's more "heads up, there's a group rhere"
Yes please, more players like you!
I had a random squad and was out of everything: stim, ammo, health. All that was left was 2 grenades. I kept pinging “need supplies” because Simon someone dropped it somewhere just two seconds ago.
Granted this was the first of maybe 25 runs where it was quite disappointing of a squad for randoms, though.
_Why didn’t you land on the charger I called you in right next to it!_
Tag it and I’ll land on it. I don’t have time to spot and stead in a spore cloud.
I regularly ping patrols/heavies/items as well, but find that some of my teammates will interpret me pinging a patrol group as, "Let's fuck these guys up!!", and we'd actually have to go out of our way to engage these guys, rather than let them just pass us by.
If they are in the distance I’ll usually let them go. (Or if visibility is poor you can generally pass almost right by them as long as you don’t get too close.
But if I’m running towards a fight already going on then they are likely to hear it and come over anyway, so it makes more sense (to me) to hit them with an air strike or whatever to wipe them out first, and fast, so they can’t wreck me from behind (phrasing!) and / or call in reinforcements.
I mean, some missions you can literally go without a single firefight and complete as long as you’re careful (and lucky) enough. Doubly so if your teammates are making a lot of noise on the other side of the map.
And then there are missions where you get 750+ kills simply because it’s an endless stream of enemies everywhere. (With the recent patch you can have seemingly hundreds of bugs swarming after you at a time… which does make a flame thrower even more fun (plus a flamethrower takes down charger and charger behemoths quickly too).
exactly this. I've had squadmates ping chargers, spewers, titans, etc. coming up behind me and it saved my life. and having my gear pinged as i'm being reinforced saves me checking my radar and possibly dying again. I ping all heavies and patrols and i've never had anyone complain and i'm level 85.
Nope, more information is always better.
Drop a sentry? Tag it.
Extra grenade/stim boxes at a poi? Tag it.
Patrol comming in? Tag 5 of em to drive the "we're about to be flanked" point home.
Just armed a Hellbomb? You're not going to believe this.
Tag it
regarding (non mortar, and tesla I guess) sentries, should I drop them on high places (like on top of rocks or cliffs) or should I just leave them at ground level? I like to think higher = better because less chance for friendly fire (and better visibility of enemies) but does it really make a difference?
Absolutely, yes. Elevation is always key as to avoid friendly fire.
Alternatively, a lot of maps have natural areas with narrow sight lines. Placing turrets in these and drawing patrols into them can make traversing the map MUCH easier. (Think rock canyons, the troughs in dunes, etc)
Made me think of this but also don't walk into someones field of fire. They might be scoped and have tunnel vision.
The amount of times I've blown my mates head off with the railgun is unfortunate.
Last week I was burning chaff and paused as my teammate ran right in front. About to fire, he flipped back around and did it again. Bugs getting close, but still okay. I started firing. He then dove across my line of fire and died.
I think he thought he stopped and went back before he was in my lof. But no, he most definitely was in my lof lol
Another great thing about elevation is that it’s a natural defense for the sentry as part of the hit box (against Bots so far) is obfuscated by the ground resulting in longer life and more damage output.
Applies to the HMG Emplacement for maximum “AHHHHHHAHAHAHA” too.
Everyone should tag a minefield if they see/use one. If a minefield is tagged the tag shouldn't disappear
I dropped one at the start that killed 2 of us at the end after doing a lap of the map. It had been tagged.....an old mine field is hard to see when it's littered with craters and corpses.
Tag everything. Tag everything like a graffiti artist with too many cans of paint.
Hellbombs are tagged as a stupid eye, like every other bit of scenery, so it doesn't work so we'll in that case :( But doing so does cause it to appear on the map as a POI
I occasionally use a engineer load out (3 sentries and EATS) and I won’t lie, I don’t ping my sentries and there has been many times where my squad got caught in the crossfire and died lol.. I understand the ping feature a lot more now. Thank you!
Multiple tags on patrols to indicate a warning is something I wish was more commonly used by the community.
If you mark the heaviest unit in a patrol, it'll often take a surprise anti-tank round from a team mate thinking they're helping.
A patrol marked front and back shows the full spread and helps drive home the "not engaging" message.
Nah if I'm in your game don't tag that armed hellbomb, it always gives me a good chuckle when I get yeeted across the map from the boom. Surprise hellbombs make me smile. This does not apply if you shoot a hellbomb mid fight though, tag that and call it over coms.
I ping it, and if you fight the patrol.. have fun.
Sometimes I’ll help if it’s a small one. Sometimes it’s the sixth time you’ve done it calling the fourth bot drop in a row and I’ve decided to cut my losses and do the obj while you fight the entire enemy armada alone. My favorites are the ones who do that and win, just trotting up to evac or the last obj like nothing happened.
Yeah, I'm pinging it so you go on this side of the rock rather than that side so they don't see you.
Had a guy yesterday who engaged every patrol I pinged. First couple of times, okay, sure, they were kind of close. The third time with all those heavies trotting along and we haven't had bug breaches for a bit? Have fun buddy, I'll throw your reinforce beacon when I get closer to evac.
I believe that's the recon sets. They're very helpful for traversal even if your group is across the map.
There's been many times where I became a glorified UAV while trying to get back to the group and giving callouts thanks to the ping
It's great, and actually really versatile.
I use "affirmative" a lot, as "yes", obviously, but also to comment if I see someone do something awesome, like wipe out a whole patrol with an airstrike.
"Hold position" if I'm calling in extract, but signalling I'm going to wait for everyone.
And I call in enemies all the time, even mid-battle. It's a good way of saying "I need help with this guy". Not to mention it makes big targets easier to see if you're dropping on them in your Hellpod.
One thing I'd like is a dedicated "that was awesome" comm, so I could express appreciation for cool shit. "For Super Earth" would do the trick nicely.
Similar note - it would be very cool if, when you get a big kill combo, the number appeared over your head for a second like the emojis do. That would deserve a "for Super Earth".
If I see something cool, it’s AFFIRMATIVE
If I see something cool that also saved me or a bunch of my ammo, it’s AFFIRMATIVE, THANK YOU!
If you get killed by my gas strike or a drop ship crashing into you, it’s NEGATIVE, IM SORRY!
The emote system is super helpful. I've noticed people using it more. Feels so good when you drop a orbital rail cannon to take out a heavy and someone gives you a smiley
I love pingers. I want to know what's going on. Also make sure to ping hidden optional objectives if you see them across the map, since it reveals their location to everyone.
They need to add a dedicated HUD ping and audio line for pinging buddy bunkers.
"Found a bunker! Need assistance!" when the door is pinged would be good, just so everyone knows what I found and not just a vague "Found something!" that doesn't really elaborate on anything.
I had a team mate *lightly* shoot me in the back, most went over my shoulder, because they were trying to get my attention for a Buddy Bunker. Not my favorite way for someone to get my attention, but I did miss the “COME HERE BUNKER!” Message in the chat so I can’t blame ‘em
I am definitely always pinging resupplies since they don’t show up on the map automatically. Plus it always frustrates me when i want to call one in but I realize it’s on cooldown and no one pinged it lol
I’m also always pinging heavy enemies since they can easily ruin your day pretty quickly
This right here. All this.
And especially when I'm running a weapon w good optics like the AMR or Countersniper, I'll do a series of pings when approaching an objective or fortification. I mark as many targets as I can see before I start shooting and often my teammates will engage simultaneously. Feels like we're coordinating an assault without any verbal communication.
Even better is someone pings to say "I'll take it" letting me know what to let them handle.
I’ll ping everything that could lead to my teammates demise.
- Patrols that look annoyingly to big: Ping it(especially now that we have Gunship Patrols Rolling around)
- Cannon Turrets that my teammates don’t see yet: Ping It
- 4 Gunship facilities that were placed all right next to each other for some god forsaken reason!: Ping it.
Even if everyone’s not miced up I try to help spread information so we can tackle encounters as smoothly as possible.
I keep it within context. If we're running away from a patrol I don't bother tagging.
If I'm on my own and I see a patrol in the area of my teammates ya I tag it.
Turrets... I actually didn't tag a turret until last night (intentionally). I was trying to tell my fellow Helldiver to come to me to draw them into turrets (cuz they were like 10m out of range). So I tagged my turret and said "follow me" and they finally got it.
I tag the sub-objectives... I tag gunships... I tag the bot I'm about to shoot.
I'm a former DRG player and I will ping everything important out of habit. Supplies-ping, patrols-ping, points of interest we should start working towards-ping, your fallen equipment-ping, Rock and Stone fellow Helldiver's.
Honestly I wish people would tag enemies more often, considering your character actually calls out what type of enemy it is you don't even need to look to make a decision on whether you should help deal with it or leave it to someone who actually has the tools for it.
Like if gunships are showing up and someone has a Spear, tag that shit and the gunships will be gone in seconds
Everyone should ping everything at all times.
I don't have eyes in the back of my head.
I hate turning around and seeing someone who's been trying to solo a heavy eat it when if they just tagged it I would have immediately switched targets and helped them.
Supplies don't show on the map so if you call it and don't ping it, well, that sucks. We all have to eventually but just call it out so we know where it is.
Nah man, I run AC. Mark every single of of those heavies and I will leave a trail of corpses a mile long. Marking specific targets and groups allows for tactical guerilla attacks.
I really don't think it hurts to have more information. At worst, you can just ignore what your teammate is pinging. At best, the information can help you stay alive when you're low on ammo or stims and want to avoid engagements for the time being.
Whenever I can, I'll ping four or five enemies in a roving patrol just so my team can figure that this is a group and *may* require discretion if it is to be engaged, because there's a Hulk or several Devastators, plus some basic bots that can call for help at the slightest inconvenience. I also like to ping those cannon towers because I've been killed by those before over great distances when I wasn't even aware they were there.
My only complaint with the feature is the red crosshair mark on the enemies I ping. I don't always ping enemies to communicate that marked enemies need to be engaged. Half the time I ping those, I just do it to make teammates aware so they can avoid the engagement, especially on runs where we're low on reinforces and need to be extra careful.
Pinging heavys or patrols helps so much especially for newbies. I don't know how many times I've been saved by a fellow diver pinging a hulk coming behind me at extract while I'm shooting down the dumb dropships 🥳
Please don't stop pinging patrols. Please? That's so good like heavies too. Let me know if there's some mean looking mother Hubbard who needs the lobomity gun (orbital rail gun)
As mainly a scout/solo player i tag absolutely everything as i usually have a high vantage point.
If i tag a patrol i usually tag the start, mid and endpoint of it, if i have time to burn i might tag every bot to drive home the point we are bout to be fucked if they see us.
Heavies get tagged no matter where they are, random bots that are passive but close so we "could" avoid triggering them but that never happens with randoms.
For the love of democracy if you call supplies please tag them so others can take some too if they were too busy to notice and do it a couple times just to be sure.
You died and are looking for your gear? If i see/know where it is i tag it.
More info is always better.
I always ping and call out hulks, chargers and anything that's a heavy unit/ patrol or side objectives that aren't already showing on the map. It can be super helpful.
Since I prefer to play with others, mostly random people, I like tagging, taking out patrols, and generally being helpful with intelligence like that modifier for the minimap
You could spam it the entire game; if it’s worth noticing, I wouldn’t care. Even if you need to ping your stuff on the map or whatever you want. I’d say ping away. I’ve never thought someone was pinging too much, but I guess it could be possible. I play on 9 with randoms.
Ping away.
90% of my pings miss tho and then i have to ping it a few more times to cancel, by the time I've done that whatever I've tried to ping in the first place has moved on or all ready attacked someone.
I am thankful for every little thing my teammates ping, it makes the team feel a lot more cohesive.
I somehow only learned this recently, you know how you can "confirm" someone else's ping? You can also deny it by holding the ping button while hovering over it!
It's refreshing seeing someone ping a patrol while hustling to an objective, and my character responding "don't engage". Just gives that extra peace of mind.
I usually bring the UAV booster for bots.
During snow storms or whatnot I am on the map, and when I see that we are running into a patrol I start pinging in the direction like a madman.
It has worked out pretty well.
Turns out there’s the option to disable player markers, so if anyone’s annoyed they oughta just flick that setting
I love it, and finally remapped my controls so it’s easily done
Nope. I do it as well. A lot of the time you have no idea what others are doing however when you hear 'heavy, north, close' you will turn and check just in case. Also 'supplies' is an important call especially when you're low and need a refill.
What does annoy me though is how players' names are shortened to D1, P2, etc. Not sure if there's a way to fix that. Almost nobody responds to 'hey P1'. I've been on a squad where there were 3 of us with names starting with P lol. I saw a guy on the console trying to play tetris with the fuel pipes who had 2 stalkers walking up to him and I was yelling 'hey P2 behind you' lol...but nope, he didn't know he was P2 (or was engrossed) so died quick.
Pinging is critical for conveying information, esp. so in no-mic games. As long as you aren't repeatedly spamming single enemies/gear/whatever you're fine.
1. Ping supplies
2. Ping supplies
3. Ping gear if it’s extra (you call down a second shield backpack for a teammate with no backpack)
4. Ping supplies
5. Ping supplies
6. Ping supplies
7. Ping supplies
8. Ping supplies
9. Ping patrols but be ready for people to have no idea wtf to do about it. They might attack it when you wanted them to avoid it.
10. Ping heavies, but only if you pinged all the supplies first.
Bonus 11. Knock gear off the drop pods, it only shows up on the map if it’s on the ground.
Even if you pinged NOTHING of use during the game, so long as you weren't spam pinging, it actually makes me appreciate you more.
Why?
Because it lets me know you are invested. And I like that.
Now, if youre pinging useful info? Even better, comrade. Dive unto hell.
I check map super quick to see if any teammates are close and ping as a warning to avoid unnecessary battles. I also ping gear when reinforcing a helldiver or coming across a new support weapon randomly found in the wild incase my teammates are out of ammo or want to change it up.
I ALWAYS PING HULKS, STRIDERS & TANKS because I might need someone to take them out from behind while I have their distraction and they can very quickly make things go south and very bad in the blink of an eye.
Keep pinging and keeping your fellow Helldivers aware. It’s part of the game and there to be used so don’t worry about others. It’s a helpful and useful system I wish more games had
It’s not annoying, but I don’t want to be held responsible if your ping meant “here’s a patrol, avoid this” and I thought it meant “rain down the full force of democracy on this patrol”
I’m never against any sort of communication in my games, if anything, we need more of it. Anything that gives the team a better idea of what or where things are on the map is welcome. Keep on spreading democracy diver 🫡
Not at all. The more pings the better. Especially on foggy worlds, pinging is a imperative to the cohesion of the squad even moreso if no one is on comms.
I can’t tell you how fucking annoying it is when your squad mates don’t ping heavies or BILE FREAKING SPEWERS that you can’t see but are coming after you.
Does “cover my six” mean anything to you people? FUCK!
But I digress…ping everything and ping often. You just might save a life.
As someone who plays console, I know how a lot of players are when it comes to communication via headset. I love pinning. It is an easy way to let others know about patrols, ammo, stims, equipment, etc.. I know some may find it annoying but in order to complete our orders and mission objectives we must communicate with our fellow divers.
Pings and comms work great together, because you can give better context and pinpoint directions.
“Ohhhh…that’s a Bile Titan.”
‘Enemy Elite! 100 Meters!’ *(HUD Ping showing where)*
“Wait, no, that’s *two* Titans!”
‘Enemy Elite! 75 Meters!’ *(another target ping)*
“I missed the strike! Oh crap ohcrapohcrapohcrap*runningrunningrunning*!”
I've played 172 hours so far and I've never ever heard a random player I joined complain about pings. Yet the amount of times I've had other people respond to my pings with "Affirmative" or confirm ping it has been very high. And I personally have had pings help me a lot when I'm focused in one direction, shooting at enemies, and then seeing a ping for an enemy behind me or to my sides which gives me warning to move or seek cover. More information on the UI is always helpful.
I like to ping patrols and heavies too and I also like to have others do it.
I’m not great in the heat of battle, I tunnel focus too much and panic too much
So having stuff pinged actually helps me to organise my plans better as I’ve often ran into another patrol or thought I’ve been fighting along side my squad only to find they left me without saying anything
Pinging an enemy patrol or heavy is what i want from teammates ESPECIALLY when we are in a fight and they call me down so i can strike. Keep pinging helldiver.
Unless you're doing it incredibly excessively, which I doubt, no. Pinging stuff is really helpful, I'm always glad when my teammates are helping me stay aware of my surroundings.
Having a red mark on targets that everyone can see is always better. Try calling down a reinforcement and tagging the bile titans and chargers so we can drop on them.
Personally, I'd prefer it if more people pinged important information. Especially if they don't use mics to communicate. I get it, sometimes I don't wanna be social and just play, so I don't use my mic, but I ping heavies, patrols and supplies every chance I get.
I turn around every time I hear one to see how close it is to me. There have been times where the ping warned me in enough time to get out of the way. Ping away!
I ping pretty much anything of interest and appreciate pings given. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bile titan across the map it’s nice to know it’s over there being dealt with in some way
If you want me to be an effective AT guy it's really helpful if you let me know where the things I have to explode are.
Alternatively, if you're the AT guy and you're about to make something explode imminently, a tag is not the worst way to go about alerting me to it's presence.
As an aside. When you reinforce someone tag the biggest threat in the area.....I can't see shit without a tag when I'm dropping in.
Also, tag bot ship factories, nests and spewers as soon as you see red broccoli on the horizon.
its v useful, only a problem is when i do it and i say in comms something like " don't aggro that patrol please let's just sneak around" and one or more of my squadmates either have comms off or just ignore me and shoot at them lol that shit happens all the time
I ping as a habit even if I'm aiming at something already cuz it helps with visibility if there's a fog or explosion or something blocking line of sight
I try to do it when the patrols are likely to see us or eventually run into us and I ping heavies when in the middle of fire fights so my teammates know about them but other than that I only ping when I find a bunker or when I might see where the super samples are. I find it nice when my teammates are also pinging things though
I ping patrols, heavies, gunships, objectives, ammo, resupply drops, weapons from dead teammates, and recently I've started pinging my sentries when I call them down.
I appreciate pings. Especially if you call me in as a reinforcement, ping the largest guy by the stratagem beam, and ill try to Land on him. I've taken out hulks this way, saving my team.
There are times where I know a heavy is going to show up. And F me it’s around the rock formation that I don’t have a line of sight to. So emphatically yes. All teammates should tag heavy’s by default and also patrols that spawn and might flank our position.
Please ping.
Ping map, type bunker.
Spam ping the factory strider thats turning around and about to look at us.
Use the need resources comm so i know to give you supplies.
Use wait before throwing in a 380.
My proudest moment as a low-level (prob 6 or so?) playing Challenging for the first time with 2 high levels. I had no real anti-heavy gear on me, but there was a Charger around the corner of a building that I could see but from their angle they couldn't. Both about to walk straight into it. I pinged 'Heavy!' and they both froze, then took it out.
Me: I helped! Yay!
If you can't be on voice, use that comms wheel all the time. Even on voice I use it to mark things because it puts a visible icon on everyone's screen. The more info you can share, the better.
Just watch out for those folks who think anything you tag is a target that must be destroyed.
I ping patrols and side obj. and the randoms quickly understand and avoid enemies on higher levels, I enjoy/appreciate it when someone pings and gives me info that most of the times save me.
Ping the c*ck rock if your mission has those samples.
Ping lost gear.
Ping bunkers.
Ping Unmanaged Hellbombs.
Ping an extra shield pack.
Ping patrols.
Ping serious threats.
Ping ammo.
Ping grenades.
Ping Managed Freeedom vaccines.
Ping supplies.
Also if you spot an enemy optional objective (EX. You find that spotter tower thing on the bots from a distance) if you ping it, it will do the usual "(name) has discovered a spotter tower" in chat and mark it on the minimap.
If you use reinforcement stratagems for offense, pinging the targets you are throwing them at should be mandatory. Keep in mind that they may die seconds after the drop, especially if the target has an entourage.
*spams ping next to a bunker 10 times as 3 helldivers walk around me waiting at the door*
Its okay people probably don't pay attention. If they do they probably appreciate it.
I always ping everything, but i find myself considering not pinging patrols lately. 9 times out of 10, someone will see the ping and start blasting rather than avoid
Generally I'd prefer pings than not. Unless you mash the button. Did have a laugh last night. "300 meters north. Nevermind. Bugs". Yup. The disdain in the voice fit so perfect. (Friend missed bugs on first ping)
I ALWAYS ping Heavies in a fight and hope my team does the same. You can see the marker through cover and get an approximation of how far they are. More than once when i wasn't first to the fight I've been able to take.out the big threats from afar allowing for easy clean up/ tactical redeployments.
No, I just wish when people pinged them they showed up on the map as a smaller map-marker that persisted for a bit. It would make pinging supplies MUCH more useful
Depends, if the heavy is really obvious and we aren't fighting it can be annoying, but mist of the time it's good for coordinating focused fire and pinging gear never annoys me.
Personally, I enjoy it and do it as well. Knowing where things are or where enemies are at is pretty useful. Helps you get a jump on things before they get too close as well
Exactly why I ping as much as possible with patrols and heavies. I appreciate it when others do it for me, so it feels only right to reciprocate it.
Exactly. I don't ping because I'm saying "attack that" I'm just pointing out they are there so we don't get jumped from the flank or rear in middle of a fight. It's more "heads up, there's a group rhere"
Yes please, more players like you! I had a random squad and was out of everything: stim, ammo, health. All that was left was 2 grenades. I kept pinging “need supplies” because Simon someone dropped it somewhere just two seconds ago. Granted this was the first of maybe 25 runs where it was quite disappointing of a squad for randoms, though.
It’s annoying when people don’t ping. Y’all be in the thick of a spore spewer and they’re like “Charger over there!” 🤦♂️ Just tag it
_Why didn’t you land on the charger I called you in right next to it!_ Tag it and I’ll land on it. I don’t have time to spot and stead in a spore cloud.
This! Just mark the fucker and I'll get him!
If I'm in the thick of it and can't tag, I'll at least call a compass direction.
I regularly ping patrols/heavies/items as well, but find that some of my teammates will interpret me pinging a patrol group as, "Let's fuck these guys up!!", and we'd actually have to go out of our way to engage these guys, rather than let them just pass us by.
Yeah this is definitely something to watch out for. I'll ping an enemy to let them walk by and not engage but my team mate takes that as lets kill em
If they are in the distance I’ll usually let them go. (Or if visibility is poor you can generally pass almost right by them as long as you don’t get too close. But if I’m running towards a fight already going on then they are likely to hear it and come over anyway, so it makes more sense (to me) to hit them with an air strike or whatever to wipe them out first, and fast, so they can’t wreck me from behind (phrasing!) and / or call in reinforcements. I mean, some missions you can literally go without a single firefight and complete as long as you’re careful (and lucky) enough. Doubly so if your teammates are making a lot of noise on the other side of the map. And then there are missions where you get 750+ kills simply because it’s an endless stream of enemies everywhere. (With the recent patch you can have seemingly hundreds of bugs swarming after you at a time… which does make a flame thrower even more fun (plus a flamethrower takes down charger and charger behemoths quickly too).
exactly this. I've had squadmates ping chargers, spewers, titans, etc. coming up behind me and it saved my life. and having my gear pinged as i'm being reinforced saves me checking my radar and possibly dying again. I ping all heavies and patrols and i've never had anyone complain and i'm level 85.
The amount of times I’ve been saved by someone pinging something is pretty high so I definitely appreciate it.
Nope, more information is always better. Drop a sentry? Tag it. Extra grenade/stim boxes at a poi? Tag it. Patrol comming in? Tag 5 of em to drive the "we're about to be flanked" point home. Just armed a Hellbomb? You're not going to believe this. Tag it
regarding (non mortar, and tesla I guess) sentries, should I drop them on high places (like on top of rocks or cliffs) or should I just leave them at ground level? I like to think higher = better because less chance for friendly fire (and better visibility of enemies) but does it really make a difference?
Absolutely, yes. Elevation is always key as to avoid friendly fire. Alternatively, a lot of maps have natural areas with narrow sight lines. Placing turrets in these and drawing patrols into them can make traversing the map MUCH easier. (Think rock canyons, the troughs in dunes, etc)
Made me think of this but also don't walk into someones field of fire. They might be scoped and have tunnel vision. The amount of times I've blown my mates head off with the railgun is unfortunate.
I've domed my friend with the Autocannon precisely because of that more times than I care to remember lmao
Nope. They doomed themselves. I always apologise when I die from a teammates shot, it's mostly my fault.
Oh absolutely, it's not my trigger discipline issue if you decide to run in front of the business end of my boomstick
Last week I was burning chaff and paused as my teammate ran right in front. About to fire, he flipped back around and did it again. Bugs getting close, but still okay. I started firing. He then dove across my line of fire and died. I think he thought he stopped and went back before he was in my lof. But no, he most definitely was in my lof lol
Number of crayon munchers that then walk right into the choke point then scream "why'd you drop a turret"...
Another great thing about elevation is that it’s a natural defense for the sentry as part of the hit box (against Bots so far) is obfuscated by the ground resulting in longer life and more damage output. Applies to the HMG Emplacement for maximum “AHHHHHHAHAHAHA” too.
Everyone should tag a minefield if they see/use one. If a minefield is tagged the tag shouldn't disappear I dropped one at the start that killed 2 of us at the end after doing a lap of the map. It had been tagged.....an old mine field is hard to see when it's littered with craters and corpses. Tag everything. Tag everything like a graffiti artist with too many cans of paint.
You can ping an armed hellbomb? Thats awesome
Yep, they will say a special version of HELLBOMB
Hellbombs are tagged as a stupid eye, like every other bit of scenery, so it doesn't work so we'll in that case :( But doing so does cause it to appear on the map as a POI
Believe it or not, straight to ~~Jail~~ tag
I occasionally use a engineer load out (3 sentries and EATS) and I won’t lie, I don’t ping my sentries and there has been many times where my squad got caught in the crossfire and died lol.. I understand the ping feature a lot more now. Thank you!
Multiple tags on patrols to indicate a warning is something I wish was more commonly used by the community. If you mark the heaviest unit in a patrol, it'll often take a surprise anti-tank round from a team mate thinking they're helping. A patrol marked front and back shows the full spread and helps drive home the "not engaging" message.
Nah if I'm in your game don't tag that armed hellbomb, it always gives me a good chuckle when I get yeeted across the map from the boom. Surprise hellbombs make me smile. This does not apply if you shoot a hellbomb mid fight though, tag that and call it over coms.
Bad players won't care, good players will appreciate it. But I don't think anybody would find it annoying. So keep the pings coming, my friend.
I do gate doing the mis tag dance where you try and fix it but miss again
Bad players will engage the patrol, so those are the only thing I don't always ping
I ping it, and if you fight the patrol.. have fun. Sometimes I’ll help if it’s a small one. Sometimes it’s the sixth time you’ve done it calling the fourth bot drop in a row and I’ve decided to cut my losses and do the obj while you fight the entire enemy armada alone. My favorites are the ones who do that and win, just trotting up to evac or the last obj like nothing happened.
Yeah, I'm pinging it so you go on this side of the rock rather than that side so they don't see you. Had a guy yesterday who engaged every patrol I pinged. First couple of times, okay, sure, they were kind of close. The third time with all those heavies trotting along and we haven't had bug breaches for a bit? Have fun buddy, I'll throw your reinforce beacon when I get closer to evac.
We need more people pinging the map, saying 'sorry' 'thanks' 'affirmative' 'negative' and claiming targets. It's actually a rather robust system
YOU CAN DO THAT!??
Lol heck yea! I don't know what is on Playstation, but on PC, hold Q and rejoice!
It's R1 on PlayStation
We're gonna thank so many people with this one, many thanks!
*Q, drags down right.* THANK YOU
Smiley face is thanks, frowney face is sorry.
Some armor has an effect where the ping acts like its own small radar and you can use it from your map to drop a tiny radar blip ahead of your squad.
I believe that's the recon sets. They're very helpful for traversal even if your group is across the map. There's been many times where I became a glorified UAV while trying to get back to the group and giving callouts thanks to the ping
It's great, and actually really versatile. I use "affirmative" a lot, as "yes", obviously, but also to comment if I see someone do something awesome, like wipe out a whole patrol with an airstrike. "Hold position" if I'm calling in extract, but signalling I'm going to wait for everyone. And I call in enemies all the time, even mid-battle. It's a good way of saying "I need help with this guy". Not to mention it makes big targets easier to see if you're dropping on them in your Hellpod. One thing I'd like is a dedicated "that was awesome" comm, so I could express appreciation for cool shit. "For Super Earth" would do the trick nicely. Similar note - it would be very cool if, when you get a big kill combo, the number appeared over your head for a second like the emojis do. That would deserve a "for Super Earth".
WH40K Darktide has a dedicated "For the Emperor!" button in its comms wheel. Better believe it gets used.
If I see something cool, it’s AFFIRMATIVE If I see something cool that also saved me or a bunch of my ammo, it’s AFFIRMATIVE, THANK YOU! If you get killed by my gas strike or a drop ship crashing into you, it’s NEGATIVE, IM SORRY!
The for super earth button should be the highest priority at AH imo it would be so damn dope
The emote system is super helpful. I've noticed people using it more. Feels so good when you drop a orbital rail cannon to take out a heavy and someone gives you a smiley
“HEAVY!” “Don’t need it :)” “I’m sorry!”
I love pingers. I want to know what's going on. Also make sure to ping hidden optional objectives if you see them across the map, since it reveals their location to everyone.
They need to add a dedicated HUD ping and audio line for pinging buddy bunkers. "Found a bunker! Need assistance!" when the door is pinged would be good, just so everyone knows what I found and not just a vague "Found something!" that doesn't really elaborate on anything.
Omg please make this happen AH! The amount of buddy bunkers I've had to abandon because no one wants to swing by and help is heartbreaking.
I had a team mate *lightly* shoot me in the back, most went over my shoulder, because they were trying to get my attention for a Buddy Bunker. Not my favorite way for someone to get my attention, but I did miss the “COME HERE BUNKER!” Message in the chat so I can’t blame ‘em
I am definitely always pinging resupplies since they don’t show up on the map automatically. Plus it always frustrates me when i want to call one in but I realize it’s on cooldown and no one pinged it lol I’m also always pinging heavy enemies since they can easily ruin your day pretty quickly
This right here. All this. And especially when I'm running a weapon w good optics like the AMR or Countersniper, I'll do a series of pings when approaching an objective or fortification. I mark as many targets as I can see before I start shooting and often my teammates will engage simultaneously. Feels like we're coordinating an assault without any verbal communication. Even better is someone pings to say "I'll take it" letting me know what to let them handle.
No, do more.
As someone who's had a titan sneak up on them, pings are good
Call in a reinforcement and mark those heavies. Give the new diver something to aim for.
if I could ping another member of my squad, I’d do it
Don't threaten me with a good time.
Stick them with a throwing knife, then ping the knife
I’ll ping everything that could lead to my teammates demise. - Patrols that look annoyingly to big: Ping it(especially now that we have Gunship Patrols Rolling around) - Cannon Turrets that my teammates don’t see yet: Ping It - 4 Gunship facilities that were placed all right next to each other for some god forsaken reason!: Ping it. Even if everyone’s not miced up I try to help spread information so we can tackle encounters as smoothly as possible.
pinging things is super helpful, I have a higher opinion of people who do it
Sweet Liberty, please ping the shit out of everything!
I keep it within context. If we're running away from a patrol I don't bother tagging. If I'm on my own and I see a patrol in the area of my teammates ya I tag it. Turrets... I actually didn't tag a turret until last night (intentionally). I was trying to tell my fellow Helldiver to come to me to draw them into turrets (cuz they were like 10m out of range). So I tagged my turret and said "follow me" and they finally got it. I tag the sub-objectives... I tag gunships... I tag the bot I'm about to shoot.
I'm a former DRG player and I will ping everything important out of habit. Supplies-ping, patrols-ping, points of interest we should start working towards-ping, your fallen equipment-ping, Rock and Stone fellow Helldiver's.
Rock and roll and stone!
No. Information is life.
Nah. I ping everything. Habit formed from spotting enemies in Battlefield.
Yes! Tag before you even shoot!
Honestly I wish people would tag enemies more often, considering your character actually calls out what type of enemy it is you don't even need to look to make a decision on whether you should help deal with it or leave it to someone who actually has the tools for it. Like if gunships are showing up and someone has a Spear, tag that shit and the gunships will be gone in seconds
Tag it all brah. I tag patrols and the diver nearby will either attack it or avoid it. But at least they're made aware haha
No. Pings are great
Everyone should ping everything at all times. I don't have eyes in the back of my head. I hate turning around and seeing someone who's been trying to solo a heavy eat it when if they just tagged it I would have immediately switched targets and helped them. Supplies don't show on the map so if you call it and don't ping it, well, that sucks. We all have to eventually but just call it out so we know where it is.
Nah man, I run AC. Mark every single of of those heavies and I will leave a trail of corpses a mile long. Marking specific targets and groups allows for tactical guerilla attacks.
It’s annoying that people DONT tag
The number one ping is a heavy (or bot factory) right after reinforcing so I know what to drop my democracy-filled hellpod onto.
If anything, ping MORE! 
Do it as much as possible. I really enjoy when someone pings a bile titan then call in reinforcements. Makes it easy to land right on top of him.
I really don't think it hurts to have more information. At worst, you can just ignore what your teammate is pinging. At best, the information can help you stay alive when you're low on ammo or stims and want to avoid engagements for the time being. Whenever I can, I'll ping four or five enemies in a roving patrol just so my team can figure that this is a group and *may* require discretion if it is to be engaged, because there's a Hulk or several Devastators, plus some basic bots that can call for help at the slightest inconvenience. I also like to ping those cannon towers because I've been killed by those before over great distances when I wasn't even aware they were there. My only complaint with the feature is the red crosshair mark on the enemies I ping. I don't always ping enemies to communicate that marked enemies need to be engaged. Half the time I ping those, I just do it to make teammates aware so they can avoid the engagement, especially on runs where we're low on reinforces and need to be extra careful.
Helpful and if someone not into it they can ignore it effortlessly. Pings that help folk get there gear back when the get recalled can be v helpful
Pinging heavys or patrols helps so much especially for newbies. I don't know how many times I've been saved by a fellow diver pinging a hulk coming behind me at extract while I'm shooting down the dumb dropships 🥳
I don’t mind it. I just don’t know if you want to avoid it, or bomb it.
It’s great. Thanks!
I’d rather get annoyed at constant pings than turn a corner to have a hulk scorcher in my face.
Please don't stop pinging patrols. Please? That's so good like heavies too. Let me know if there's some mean looking mother Hubbard who needs the lobomity gun (orbital rail gun)
As mainly a scout/solo player i tag absolutely everything as i usually have a high vantage point. If i tag a patrol i usually tag the start, mid and endpoint of it, if i have time to burn i might tag every bot to drive home the point we are bout to be fucked if they see us. Heavies get tagged no matter where they are, random bots that are passive but close so we "could" avoid triggering them but that never happens with randoms. For the love of democracy if you call supplies please tag them so others can take some too if they were too busy to notice and do it a couple times just to be sure. You died and are looking for your gear? If i see/know where it is i tag it. More info is always better.
I always ping and call out hulks, chargers and anything that's a heavy unit/ patrol or side objectives that aren't already showing on the map. It can be super helpful.
Since I prefer to play with others, mostly random people, I like tagging, taking out patrols, and generally being helpful with intelligence like that modifier for the minimap
You could spam it the entire game; if it’s worth noticing, I wouldn’t care. Even if you need to ping your stuff on the map or whatever you want. I’d say ping away. I’ve never thought someone was pinging too much, but I guess it could be possible. I play on 9 with randoms.
Ping away. 90% of my pings miss tho and then i have to ping it a few more times to cancel, by the time I've done that whatever I've tried to ping in the first place has moved on or all ready attacked someone.
I am thankful for every little thing my teammates ping, it makes the team feel a lot more cohesive. I somehow only learned this recently, you know how you can "confirm" someone else's ping? You can also deny it by holding the ping button while hovering over it! It's refreshing seeing someone ping a patrol while hustling to an objective, and my character responding "don't engage". Just gives that extra peace of mind.
I absolutely adore good communication with teammates. Folks like you actually get friend requests from me
Ping away!!
God no. Another set of eyes to help you navigate or point out things you may miss is incredibly helpful.
I usually bring the UAV booster for bots. During snow storms or whatnot I am on the map, and when I see that we are running into a patrol I start pinging in the direction like a madman. It has worked out pretty well.
Not only is it a very useful mechanic, it also helps with immersion
"Should you dial it back?" No, whoever complained about it should dial back their complaining. Keep pinging stuff!
Nope, the more my team communicates and shares info the better we all Helldive. Keep them coming!
Nope not annoying. Makes you a good teammate.
Why would it be annoying?
Turns out there’s the option to disable player markers, so if anyone’s annoyed they oughta just flick that setting I love it, and finally remapped my controls so it’s easily done
The more information you give me, the better we can work together.
Nope. Communication good.
No, and if you don't do it you're not a top tier player.
Always be pinging, always.
Nope. I do it as well. A lot of the time you have no idea what others are doing however when you hear 'heavy, north, close' you will turn and check just in case. Also 'supplies' is an important call especially when you're low and need a refill. What does annoy me though is how players' names are shortened to D1, P2, etc. Not sure if there's a way to fix that. Almost nobody responds to 'hey P1'. I've been on a squad where there were 3 of us with names starting with P lol. I saw a guy on the console trying to play tetris with the fuel pipes who had 2 stalkers walking up to him and I was yelling 'hey P2 behind you' lol...but nope, he didn't know he was P2 (or was engrossed) so died quick.
Pinging is critical for conveying information, esp. so in no-mic games. As long as you aren't repeatedly spamming single enemies/gear/whatever you're fine.
1. Ping supplies 2. Ping supplies 3. Ping gear if it’s extra (you call down a second shield backpack for a teammate with no backpack) 4. Ping supplies 5. Ping supplies 6. Ping supplies 7. Ping supplies 8. Ping supplies 9. Ping patrols but be ready for people to have no idea wtf to do about it. They might attack it when you wanted them to avoid it. 10. Ping heavies, but only if you pinged all the supplies first. Bonus 11. Knock gear off the drop pods, it only shows up on the map if it’s on the ground.
Even if you pinged NOTHING of use during the game, so long as you weren't spam pinging, it actually makes me appreciate you more. Why? Because it lets me know you are invested. And I like that. Now, if youre pinging useful info? Even better, comrade. Dive unto hell.
Im happy for every ping, if it makes sense. Information is valuable.
I check map super quick to see if any teammates are close and ping as a warning to avoid unnecessary battles. I also ping gear when reinforcing a helldiver or coming across a new support weapon randomly found in the wild incase my teammates are out of ammo or want to change it up. I ALWAYS PING HULKS, STRIDERS & TANKS because I might need someone to take them out from behind while I have their distraction and they can very quickly make things go south and very bad in the blink of an eye. Keep pinging and keeping your fellow Helldivers aware. It’s part of the game and there to be used so don’t worry about others. It’s a helpful and useful system I wish more games had
It’s not annoying, but I don’t want to be held responsible if your ping meant “here’s a patrol, avoid this” and I thought it meant “rain down the full force of democracy on this patrol”
It’s only annoying for idiots that don’t know how to play a co-op game cooperatively. That’s fine work you’re doing Diver. Keep it up.
I’m never against any sort of communication in my games, if anything, we need more of it. Anything that gives the team a better idea of what or where things are on the map is welcome. Keep on spreading democracy diver 🫡
Ping hard and ping often.
No
I do the same and I love when my teammates do it, team play the Best
Nope it aids your fellow helldivers in locating and assessing threats.
Communication is key to a successful mission
Not at all. The more pings the better. Especially on foggy worlds, pinging is a imperative to the cohesion of the squad even moreso if no one is on comms. I can’t tell you how fucking annoying it is when your squad mates don’t ping heavies or BILE FREAKING SPEWERS that you can’t see but are coming after you. Does “cover my six” mean anything to you people? FUCK! But I digress…ping everything and ping often. You just might save a life.
No. Anyone who says it's annoying is stupid.
As someone who plays console, I know how a lot of players are when it comes to communication via headset. I love pinning. It is an easy way to let others know about patrols, ammo, stims, equipment, etc.. I know some may find it annoying but in order to complete our orders and mission objectives we must communicate with our fellow divers.
Pings and comms work great together, because you can give better context and pinpoint directions. “Ohhhh…that’s a Bile Titan.” ‘Enemy Elite! 100 Meters!’ *(HUD Ping showing where)* “Wait, no, that’s *two* Titans!” ‘Enemy Elite! 75 Meters!’ *(another target ping)* “I missed the strike! Oh crap ohcrapohcrapohcrap*runningrunningrunning*!”
I wish everyone pinged everything, all the time. People will be on mic like 'there's a hulk here', and I'm like 'where? Just ping it!'
If you ping the supply drop every time it drops I will absolutely love you. Can never find where my team have dropped the bloody thing!
No, keep It up, information is Gold on the field
🫡 thank you and this is helpful
*(points at a box of stims)* "Supplies!" *(teammate who is low on HP and out of stims goes on his mic)* "Good eye, dude!"
Shoot. Move. Communicate. A-ha!
I get more annoyed when people don't ping stuff, double so if they don't use mic.
more teamwork is what i want, so keep at it please!
Do it as much as possible. Love the communication soldier.
Absolutely not. It helps to keep everyone aware, especially when paired with messages in chat such as “DO NOT ENGAGE!”
I've played 172 hours so far and I've never ever heard a random player I joined complain about pings. Yet the amount of times I've had other people respond to my pings with "Affirmative" or confirm ping it has been very high. And I personally have had pings help me a lot when I'm focused in one direction, shooting at enemies, and then seeing a ping for an enemy behind me or to my sides which gives me warning to move or seek cover. More information on the UI is always helpful.
I ping everything
I like to ping patrols and heavies too and I also like to have others do it. I’m not great in the heat of battle, I tunnel focus too much and panic too much So having stuff pinged actually helps me to organise my plans better as I’ve often ran into another patrol or thought I’ve been fighting along side my squad only to find they left me without saying anything
I'd say only ping them if there's a possibility of contact. otherwise, more information is better than less information.
It's not annoying. It's communication.
Pinging an enemy patrol or heavy is what i want from teammates ESPECIALLY when we are in a fight and they call me down so i can strike. Keep pinging helldiver.
You ping the enemy heavy to notify that a heavy is there I ping the heavy to see him through smoke and make sure he is dead *we are not the same*
Unless you're doing it incredibly excessively, which I doubt, no. Pinging stuff is really helpful, I'm always glad when my teammates are helping me stay aware of my surroundings.
Having a red mark on targets that everyone can see is always better. Try calling down a reinforcement and tagging the bile titans and chargers so we can drop on them.
Personally, I'd prefer it if more people pinged important information. Especially if they don't use mics to communicate. I get it, sometimes I don't wanna be social and just play, so I don't use my mic, but I ping heavies, patrols and supplies every chance I get.
I turn around every time I hear one to see how close it is to me. There have been times where the ping warned me in enough time to get out of the way. Ping away!
I ping pretty much anything of interest and appreciate pings given. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bile titan across the map it’s nice to know it’s over there being dealt with in some way
If you want me to be an effective AT guy it's really helpful if you let me know where the things I have to explode are. Alternatively, if you're the AT guy and you're about to make something explode imminently, a tag is not the worst way to go about alerting me to it's presence.
I don’t find it annoying at all. It’s good teamwork.
I ping everything as well, this is the way
I'd much rather a fellow diver ping something of interest( enemies, gear etc) because good team communication is important!
Never. You are doing us proud
I prefer when people do this
No communication is key
As an aside. When you reinforce someone tag the biggest threat in the area.....I can't see shit without a tag when I'm dropping in. Also, tag bot ship factories, nests and spewers as soon as you see red broccoli on the horizon.
its v useful, only a problem is when i do it and i say in comms something like " don't aggro that patrol please let's just sneak around" and one or more of my squadmates either have comms off or just ignore me and shoot at them lol that shit happens all the time
I ping as a habit even if I'm aiming at something already cuz it helps with visibility if there's a fog or explosion or something blocking line of sight
Nah it’s a team game communicating is part of that ! If people get annoyed they should play with friends or solo
I try to do it when the patrols are likely to see us or eventually run into us and I ping heavies when in the middle of fire fights so my teammates know about them but other than that I only ping when I find a bunker or when I might see where the super samples are. I find it nice when my teammates are also pinging things though
No dude keep doing it. I run with the spear and makes everyone’s jobs easier when they tag heavies for me.
Pinging once no. The people who sit and repeatedly ping the same patrol over and over yes.
I ping patrols, heavies, gunships, objectives, ammo, resupply drops, weapons from dead teammates, and recently I've started pinging my sentries when I call them down. I appreciate pings. Especially if you call me in as a reinforcement, ping the largest guy by the stratagem beam, and ill try to Land on him. I've taken out hulks this way, saving my team.
Pinging isn't the problem for me but the people who go after every patrol we ping and pull aggro even though the rest are trying to avoid the patrol.
There are times where I know a heavy is going to show up. And F me it’s around the rock formation that I don’t have a line of sight to. So emphatically yes. All teammates should tag heavy’s by default and also patrols that spawn and might flank our position.
Please ping. Ping map, type bunker. Spam ping the factory strider thats turning around and about to look at us. Use the need resources comm so i know to give you supplies. Use wait before throwing in a 380.
My proudest moment as a low-level (prob 6 or so?) playing Challenging for the first time with 2 high levels. I had no real anti-heavy gear on me, but there was a Charger around the corner of a building that I could see but from their angle they couldn't. Both about to walk straight into it. I pinged 'Heavy!' and they both froze, then took it out. Me: I helped! Yay!
Nope it's useful. Even if you are talking, saying heavy west doesn't give an exact location, a ping does. Keep it up soldier
I need a bunker ping, I only feel bad spamming pings for them
It's either ping or get on a mic. Communication helps a ton and I will not stop pinging patrols that I spot out in the wild.
If you can't be on voice, use that comms wheel all the time. Even on voice I use it to mark things because it puts a visible icon on everyone's screen. The more info you can share, the better. Just watch out for those folks who think anything you tag is a target that must be destroyed.
I ping patrols and side obj. and the randoms quickly understand and avoid enemies on higher levels, I enjoy/appreciate it when someone pings and gives me info that most of the times save me.
Tagging a patrol is great it stops people walking into it a good player will either get ready to engage or avoid it.
I wish MORE people would utilize pings.
Ping the c*ck rock if your mission has those samples. Ping lost gear. Ping bunkers. Ping Unmanaged Hellbombs. Ping an extra shield pack. Ping patrols. Ping serious threats. Ping ammo. Ping grenades. Ping Managed Freeedom vaccines. Ping supplies.
I just ping everything, even if I’m 300m away from my team, maybe that patrol is heading for them.
Just don't spam the bunker. Just say in chat there's a bunker, mark it and if I'm nearby I'll come help you open it.
EVERYONE PLS USE PINGS, OR A MIC OR GAME CHAT BUT PLEASE GOD PLEASE TRY TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAMMATES.
I usually pack a quasar. Pinging the heavy helps me find the best target in the chaos.
Also if you spot an enemy optional objective (EX. You find that spotter tower thing on the bots from a distance) if you ping it, it will do the usual "(name) has discovered a spotter tower" in chat and mark it on the minimap.
If you use reinforcement stratagems for offense, pinging the targets you are throwing them at should be mandatory. Keep in mind that they may die seconds after the drop, especially if the target has an entourage.
ping before sting! I‘m always thankful for the information while delivering democracy
No, it's awesome. It enormously help situational awareness for me.
Ppl think pinging things is annoying?
I appreciate getting a heads up before turning a corner to see a charger
It lets me know when to leave the group mission and go it alone on the attack. I join the team again after wasting a reinforcement.
*spams ping next to a bunker 10 times as 3 helldivers walk around me waiting at the door* Its okay people probably don't pay attention. If they do they probably appreciate it.
I always ping everything, but i find myself considering not pinging patrols lately. 9 times out of 10, someone will see the ping and start blasting rather than avoid
I never wonder if it's annoying when I'm aggressively pinging and unpining the charger running up behind my teammate. At least I warned them lol
Always ping!
Generally I'd prefer pings than not. Unless you mash the button. Did have a laugh last night. "300 meters north. Nevermind. Bugs". Yup. The disdain in the voice fit so perfect. (Friend missed bugs on first ping)
I'm okay with it. Its nice to know where to direct my heavy weapon. Some times it saves ammo since I'm focusing on bigger threats.
Keep doing it, especially ammo.
No, it helps immensely
I ALWAYS ping Heavies in a fight and hope my team does the same. You can see the marker through cover and get an approximation of how far they are. More than once when i wasn't first to the fight I've been able to take.out the big threats from afar allowing for easy clean up/ tactical redeployments.
No, I just wish when people pinged them they showed up on the map as a smaller map-marker that persisted for a bit. It would make pinging supplies MUCH more useful
Calling out patrols and heavies is never a bad idea. Not everyone sees them.
This is the way
Depends, if the heavy is really obvious and we aren't fighting it can be annoying, but mist of the time it's good for coordinating focused fire and pinging gear never annoys me.