Mei 2nd: What does Mei need?

Ni Hao Friends! and welcome once again to THE MONTH OF MEI Season 3!
A month long project where I post threads about Overwatch best girl Mei, every dei, for the entire month of… well… May.
Todei’s Topic: Balance

So… Mei is in a weird spot huh? Half the forums seems to think she’s OP, and the other half thinks she’s too weak. In either case, I hardly ever see her in my games so I’m inclined to lean toward the latter.

But Buffing Mei is a dangerous thing, she could easily become just as OP and Oppressive as her detractors claim she already is if it’s not done carefully.

So what does Mei need? Buffs? Nerfs? A full rework? (please god no) Or is she fine as is? What speciffic changes?
I’d like to hear what people think.

And Check out the SUPERTHREAD™ (linked below) for more Mei all month long!

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Mei is fine as is, imo. She is the most rage-inducing character to fight, but more often than not if I die to Mei I was outplayed, so it’s fine.

I think Mei needs a rework, she’s a cheese character and nothing more. Practically impossible to kill in a 1v1 situation, should probably be reworked into a Tank, or a less defensive dps hero.

Not really, she’s fine, people are just complaining about the annoying CC she brings.

Nothing at all, she’s fine.

She needs to make it so that laggy stuns don’t knock her out of iceblock.

Also laggy stuns don’t make her ultimate disappear midair.
(i.e. Reduce cast time, but don’t change throwing animation)

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I think currently as is, she’s fine (not counting bugs / a couple awkward interactions). Often underrated, not perfect for every situation however / OP.

I think if Blizz does end up going with role queue / forced 2 - 2 - 2, she’ll need to be looked at for balance adjustments. She often works pretty well in a 3 - 1 - 2 set up to make use of her CC and utility without sacrificing too much damage. She also currently serves a string niche in being able to stall out an objective.

If role queue is added, they’ll almost certainly have to make an adjustment to her IMO.

To not be touched.

Mei’s the pinnacle of balance and health in my opinion and Blizzard should use her as a goal post for where more heroes need to be.

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Mei’s and Tracer’s ult shouldn’t disappear mid-air if they get stunned or die. At the very least, they should drop straight down where they were.

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It would be really easy to fix. Just reduce the cast time from 0.5sec down to 0.2sec.

Grandmaster Mei main here. I’d like to dispell some of the blatant misinformei-tion about Mei that is often spewed around these forums.

1. "Mei should be reworked!"
Just because you don’t like a certain hero doesn’t warrant a rework. By the same logic, Doomfist, Junkrat, Widowmaker, Genji, Brigitte etc. should all be reworked if we’re going by the same philosophy (since they have proved time and again to be the most hated heroes in the game)

2. "But I can’t counter Mei!"
Mei’s hero design and playstyle is one that preys on the kinds of mistakes that people at lower ranks often make. It’s not that she’s OP, it’s that you’re simply not good enough. I know that people don’t like being told when they’re bad at the game, but hero balance should not care about your feelings in this way.

Additionally, there ARE heroes who counter Mei. Pharah, Doomfist, Widowmaker, etc can all be a nightmare for Meis on more open maps with better sight-lines. This is not to say that they are HARD counters. On certain maps, you will have a hard time dealing the Mei simply because that map favours her. All heroes have maps that favour them more so than others. Deal with it.

3. "Ice wall is too OP on certain maps!!!"
Ice Wall recently received an unneeded nerf in which its HP was lowered from 500 to 400, and as a compensation ‘buff’, Mei’s primary fire received a slight damage buff (this damage buff is of no significance in any way, so this change was overall quite a heavy nerf).

Additionally, not all Ice Walls are equal. Most Meis tend to waste their Ice Walls, either because they always miss/don’t realise opportunities for good walls, or they simply have a high rate of error with their Ice Wall placement. I guarantee that you only notice these things when you’re against… oh you know… someone who’s actually GOOD at Mei?

4. "Freeze is unfair it should be removed!"
Mei’s freeze is the only non-immediate stun ability in the game. All other stun abilities will perform their stun as soon as they hit. (Case study: Eartshatter, Rocket Punch, Flashbang, Shield Bash, Hog Hook, etc.)

Against an actual coordinated team, a Mei will often have to exhaust all their cooldowns to achieve 1 freeze due to her relatively slow time to freeze enemies (she has to use cryo-freeze to bait out enemy stuns and burst damage, and uses Ice Wall to single-out targets). This is the point at which you focus the Mei to kill her, because she is at her most vulnerable. Part of a coordinated team is realising these weaknesses, and when to push to exploit them.

TLDR; there is a tonne of misinformation about Mei on these forums and elsewhere. Mei is currently in a very balanced state. She is powerful when used correctly, but at the same time, the threat of an enemy Mei can be greatly controlled with actual coordination.

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