Don't panic over the ping. If it's loud and harsh, yeah, it's a big problem, and if you let it go on for a long time, it can be a problem.
OTOH I've got a '92 Caprice that has pinged (light to heavy) since the day I got it. I've gone through everything trying to figure *that* out, but was never able to, so I finally gave up. Car's got 480k on the stock drivetrain. The pinging isn't killing this engine.
