Don't buff Mei, buff her teammates!

General Discussion
1

Mei definitely needs buffing, but that’s tricky without making her a nightmare to fight.
Here’s a couple of QOL buffs that would make Mei more useful, and less infuriating, to her own team.

Changes:

  • Mei’s Icewall reveals nearby enemies on the other side (Ice Vision)
  • While positioning the icewall, Mei can Hold Primary Fire to show the location to her teammates in advance

Key Info:

  • Ice Vision shows blue silhouettes of the enemy based on both viewer and target’s distance from the wall (see https://i.imgur.com/4pdlzTJ.png)
  • Enemy silhouettes are blocked by geometry between them and the ice
  • All other wallhack-visions supersede Ice Vision
  • See https://gfycat.com/GiganticLegalLhasaapso for an example of how this might look in-game

This gives Icewall a distinct team advantage rather than just being an obstacle, but the falloff means snipers can’t use it to get free kills.

Possible other QOL changes:

  • Teammates can break a wall on 2 melee hits

Let me know what you think!
And Devs; is this possible?

20 Likes
2

I like the idea. And it fits since you can kinda see through ice sheets irl.

3 Likes
3

Pretty much! Especially if they’re nearby.

4

Not sure about the marker, but the silhouette idea is awesome!

5

Thanks! Just curious - Why no to the marker?

6

the only thing that should be done to mei is to remove her from the game

7

That’s definitely one idea.

I really enjoy playing Mei, though.

8

This is actually a super cool idea I’d love to see tried on the ptr

1 Like
9

Let me guess you have a background in moba’s ?

10

Thanks! Same, though I’d like to know if the devs actually even think it’s possible - I obviously don’t know their engine.

Actually no… What makes you say that?

11

I like this, would make her ice wall far less annoying to her own team. It always bugged me how unless the mei is good her ice wall is as much a detriment as help.

1 Like
12

Another problem is that you can’t always see why the icewall is where it is (e.g. in front of a glowing McCree) and it can be a total surprise to your best laid plans. A lot of people already talk about making it transparent but I don’t think that’d fit the game style nor be as effective or controllable as wallhacks.

13

Hey puppet, I’m not suggesting the marker is a bad idea, just trying to understand its purpose. Here are some of the questions I have about it :slight_smile:

  • As a team-mate, what information would the marker give me?
  • As a team-mate should I suggest a different location?
  • Is it too much information?
  • If it is to ‘warn’ me where it is to be placed, what difference does it make if Mei then moves it suddenly 5m further does it help me?
  • What if she places it immediately regardless?
1 Like
14

I like the idea of a the marker but in firefights it will probably popup too quick or be too much information. It would still be helpful in slower more defensive situations, but voice chat would probably work just as well.

I still wouldn’t say no to it, combined with voice chat it would be nice. ‘Putting Wall up to dive in’+visible in game marker of incoming wall placement.

1 Like
15

They have tried to make this during the development of Mei, but they couldn’t make it work.

From the book Art of Overwatch:
https://i.imgur.com/wrHagIc.jpg

16

One thing I think is cool about mei is how she is able to help her teammates get to high ground and stuff. I think it sucks that her stuff goes on cool down for an ability that can do other things. And at lower ranks it’s discouraged even more since allies fall and stuff.
So i don’t know how they’d do it, but maybe if she can just create a mario style elevator platform that just stays there and it can go left or right or up and down and it’ll just keep doing that until she chooses to switch it.
I know it’s a permanent ability in a game that doesn’t really have those but I think it’s a good mechanic and I think it’ll bring those less mobile characters back in the meta

17

Huh, I never knew that. Thing is, this is transparency which, having had time working with game engines, yeah I can see that being an issue, which is why I never would’ve advocated for it.

I’m suggesting something different, though; using existing wallhack-shaders on the wall. I’m not sure how possible the falloff effect would be, nor applying it to a surface in specific, but I’ve seen other engines do it (even Unreal which I used in my Mark of the Dragon demo) - I’d love for a blizz employee to let me know how possible or impossible it is, actually, if only to help me stop wishing for it.

I did think about that a while ago; an alternate setting that made a staircase would be pretty ace. I don’t know how would be best to implement it, though, as having more than two options on the ability seems messy. Unless you could think of a way to do that?