A new type of “on my way” ping is coming to League of Legends, according to the company’s post on the official game forums today.
This new ping will change depending on the distance away from the ping’s location. So, if you ping at an outer turret from the fountain, there’s a possibility it will be louder, a different pitch, a different sound altogether, or a different icon.
According to the post, Riot hasn’t decided on anything concrete just yet, but the design team is in the early process of picking a new system. There’s also the possibility that it will be something as simple as a different chat message for each distance, but that the ping itself is unaffected.
The benefits of this system are simple. In League, fights happen very quickly. If you’re an ADC in the middle of a two-on-two tango with the enemy lane, and your mid laner pings that they’re on their way down to help, it could be the difference between a kill or a death.
Would you rather have to look down at your map mid-fight to figure out how close your ally is to joining the fray, or would you rather know right away just by the sound or look of the ping itself? If your ally is close, you can continue fighting, but if they’re still far away, that might be your signal to back off and kite before re-engaging. It could be enough to swing the game in your favor.
Unfortunately, Riot doesn’t know when it’s going to actually be implemented, because designers from the champion design teams are pitching in when they’re not working on more pressing projects. That being said, it could be a while before anything like this actually gets the green light to go into the live client.