How exactly does pinging work?

[Kitsey]

I tried the diving trick for the first time today, and I have a couple questions so I'll have a better idea of what to do next time.

I had four failed attempts during which no one pinged me for anything. I had been playing for a while already. After the first time with no pings, when I talked to a villager, they gave me the "are you tired" message. I thought I'd be ok after that, so I tried again three times (spending about 5-6 minutes in the water each) and still no pings. So I saved & quit, tried again, and thankfully Bree suggested a PWP. Does that mean I won't ever get a ping after the first time a villager tells me to take a break? Will I have to save and quit, or will saving and continuing also work?

Also, when the diving trick works, does the first villager to see you always ping?

 

[Altarium]

You can't do the diving trick for more than an hour or after you have played for an hour. The first thing a villager will tell you if you've done that is that you look tired and no one will ping you for that matter.

The diving trick always works for me, but it's not always the first villager I see. They can ping you to get them a new greeting, catchphrase, random personality quiz or PWP.

 

[Inka]

Just remember to have empty pockets and no money on you so they can't ping you to buy/sell/trade with you.

 

[Kitsey]

You can't do the diving trick for more than an hour or after you have played for an hour. The first thing a villager will tell you if you've done that is that you look tired and no one will ping you for that matter.

The diving trick always works for me, but it's not always the first villager I see. They can ping you to get them a new greeting, catchphrase, random personality quiz or PWP.

Very helpful!! I had no idea about the time limit. I'll make it the first thing I do when I load the game, then.

My pockets were full of flowers and shells and I had no money on me.

Thanks both of you!

 

[Breath Mint]

You can't do the diving trick for more than an hour or after you have played for an hour. The first thing a villager will tell you if you've done that is that you look tired and no one will ping you for that matter.

You can do it as long as you want. You're right that if you've gone more than an hour without talking to a villager they won't ping and will instead give you the 'Why don't you take a break?' message, but once you get that out of the way they will start pinging you again.

 

[Kitsey]

Has that worked for you? I did get the break message out of the way, then went back in the water for 5 mins, and got no pings. Tried again and got no pings until I saved & quit. Is there anything else that might have prevented them from pinging?

 

[Breath Mint]

Has that worked for you? I did get the break message out of the way, then went back in the water for 5 mins, and got no pings. Tried again and got no pings until I saved & quit. Is there anything else that might have prevented them from pinging?

Yes. Sometimes I would talk to a villager and get that message, then the next villager I saw would ping me. In my experience, I had a lot more success getting pings when I was in the water all the way out as opposed to being close to the beach, on the beach, or hiding somewhere in town. I have no idea why that is. It seems extremely odd but it worked for me so I stuck with it.

 

[Kitsey]

Huh, ok. One of those times I was on the beach instead of in the water. I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[visibleghost]

Huh, ok. One of those times I was on the beach instead of in the water. I'll try again tomorrow. Thanks!

you dont actually have to be in the water, as long as you stay out of sight from the villagers you're fine. they will be able to ping you if they haven't seen you in ~5 minutes so that's why you go into the water, but you could actually just be in another part of town and do something else lol.

 

[Breath Mint]

you dont actually have to be in the water, as long as you stay out of sight from the villagers you're fine. they will be able to ping you if they haven't seen you in ~5 minutes so that's why you go into the water, but you could actually just be in another part of town and do something else lol.

That's what you'd think, but when I started trying to get more PWPs I would just stand on the beach or in the corner of town and for some reason I would get pings less than half the time. Once I started going in the water I was getting pinged all the time.