That something that is coded as a bunch of projectiles, should be called a projectile for the sake of gameplay balance at high tier, as an alternative to just nerfing Mei into the ground.
Since high tiers are better at peeling. So it’s a targeted nerf.
Well, with that logic, Zarya’s beam should be considered hitscan, as it is coded as one. Beams in general are “what if that gun was emitting a flow of projectiles instead of a single one?” thingies.
This was true until there was an easy enough meta for mid tiers to run sadly. Which ended up being double shield 
The logic is “it’s close enough to be arbitrary and balance is more important than emotional feelings of familiarity for gameplay interactions that don’t exist in any other game”
It would make beams only more inconsistent if you’d ask me.
Her primary fire is indeed projectile based, but it’s still a beam. It’s still an attack that stops at 10m, where Reaper’s shotgun, which is hitscan, will have damage fallof after it has reached its optimal range. (Really weird to compare Mei’s primary fire with Reaper’s primary fire btw.)
Also, what about other projectile based abilities? You know. Abilities like Brigitte’s Whip Shot, Roadhog’s Hook, Moira’s primary fire and even Reinhardt’s ultimate.
DM needs counters that aren’t lul just wait 4head. I don’t think changing things would be healthy for the game.
Genji “deflects” not shreds. You can’t deflect a gravity propelled 1m big boulder easily especially not send it back at the thing that shot it, so it makes sense.
kinetic grasp is more of a void vaccum, it makes sense that hook effects it.
Defense matrix would make sense to destroy his boulder, but I think it would be better if it did it “continuously” so the boulder got smaller n did less damage until it was destroyed.
Off tanks do have value vs sigma, the difference is that DPS dont want to make him useless by keeping his shield down.
So there’s variation in how projectiles are treated by Matrix.
Why would it be so strange to have variation in an unusual “Beam-ish” attack?
Because consistency.
If it’s already inconsistent that’s fine.
It blocks and attacks, and it doesn’t block some other attacks.
And the criteria in where it blocks or not is kinda arbitrary.
Also I’d argue there’s no fundamental “This is how this type of ability functions in other games” with defence matrix.
It’s not like “Shotguns do more damage at close range” type of fundamental.
You lost me here.
Do you consider DM inconsistent or Meis freeze inconsistent?
As far as I know can DM not attack and can Meis freeze not block.
Either way, I’m against this idea of changing the rule against DM like abilities of this particular beam just because it behaves different from most of the other beams in this game.
I think it would create unnecessary inconsistency among beam based attacks, and I rather see just numeric changes to address the issue than reworking/changing the rules of an ability.
What matrix blocks and doesn’t block is arbitrary.
And arbitrary things are easily changed.
Aren’t basically all abilities in this game not arbitrarily?
The thing is that it’s current consistent with all beam based attacks. There is already a rule to how it’s should behave with those type of attacks, and I just don’t see the need of making things more inconsistent, but I guess we both have a different view of this.
Because top tier meta is largely defined by what pierces through matrix/grasp
And because if D.va/Sigma becomes more popular it will help with getting people to use the tank queue.
Which would reduce queue times for DPS.
Now you’re stretching it buddy.
The type of abilities it can and can’t block doesn’t determine top tier meta. Like, at all. It’s about hero synergy and the best comp strats.
Also, it’s not about how the ability works, but more how it’s being used that separates the skilled players from the unskilled players.
We could also make Reinhardt fly and have him carry 4 bastions turrets. I bet that will bring more players over to the tank class.
My point is, queue time shouldn’t affect hero balancing. Player feedback and hero stats should. If many players find Dva unfun, then blizzard have to make her more fun, which the last buff partially did.
Dva may be popular, and her being extremely viable, maybe even meta, might bring more players over to play tank, but I dont think this would be healthy for the game. Being popular shouldn’t mean always meta picks. If there is no hero variety anymore then the game would become stale and repetitive. Because of this do I think hero pools would be a great addition to this game.
Dive? Winston pierces through and burns down a healer.
GravDragon? Dragon goes through and gets boosted to kill through transcendence.
GOATs? Get a bunch of abilities that bypass matrix into close range.
Every comp since then? Mei to mess with D.va. Followed by Accretion to do it even more.
This is a beam based attacks and therefore can’t be blocked by DM.
Mei was F-tier during this meta.
Nothing can block the spiritual dragons. You would have to stop arrow that spawns them, which DM can do.
Hanzo’s dragons can’t be boosted btw, nor do I think GravDragon is a good example of top tier play.
Mei was also unviable in this meta.
It consisted out of tanks and healers only. The Mei variant called Snoats wasn’t a common team comp, and the only one who could bypass DM was Winston, and as we know can he do this because he has a beam based attack.
Moira could as well, but she didn’t saw that many playtime compared with the other healers.
Mei saw little play.
Mei being able to freeze through Dva’s DM was not the reason Mei became a strong pick and Dva became bottom tier.
After 2-2-2 did Mei became a meta pick in Clockwork and Double Shield because of her wall. Not only could it block static shields, but it also helped blocking abilities like Halt and Hook and separate enemies who got Halted or Hooked.
It would be weird if the rock could be blocked by those honestly, it’s a rather large and presumably quite heavy projectile
With how it is said D.va blocks things, by shooting them down really fast, I’m not sure she’d be able to handle the boulder. Same for Genji, he can deflect swings from Rein’s hammer but only to stop the damage rather than sending it back.
Yes, Mei’s gun emits several small projectiles with some spread, and Reaper’s fires every tick, penetrates enemies, has a range cap and freezes enemies. The same things, aren’t they?
I’d argue it’s also due to her excelling in CqC (primary and iceblock).
The only choice against both of these comps is going full into close-range combat: there’s nothing you can put up against doubleshield at mid ranges, and, although it’s not effective there, there are no long-range heroes to somewhat challenge Sig/Orissa’ barriers; Clockwork also dominates mid-range, but lacks the second barrier, so you can have a hero other than Reaper, but they also should have plenty of close-range damage and some shieldbreaking potential (that and Molten Core are the reasons Torb was used).
Mei and Reaper not only have excellent CqC weapons, but also a lot of self-sustain to survive otherwise deadly amounts of damage happening there.