I heard Mei if gets stunned while reloading and her weapon jams (icicles seems to don’t register hit) and needs 20 seconds to work again. IDK if this is true or not, i don’ remeber correctly the bug how worked. Anyway the cryofreeze and ultimate bugs are the most frequent.
Btw i will update the thread soon, after getting discharged from the hospital
Does anyone else here play on console, and if so, are they having trouble playing Mei since the last patch? I have noticed with the new aim adjustments on console, I really can’t aim with Mei anymore, and I’m struggling to hit anything. I have heard you can turn the new ‘aim assist ease in’ off, and that having it on low works best for projectiles, however, even when turning it off, the aim feels off. I guess it feels kinda slippy and awkward. I can’t really describe it, but even with it off I’m underperforming with Mei, hugely. I can’t seem to get as smooth an aim as I had prior to the update. The option is great for hitscan heroes, but I’m sad to say I haven’t enjoyed a single match as Mei since the update.
Also, I hope you are feeling better now Str1ker, I haven’t been active on the forums as of late so didn’t realise you was in the hospital.
I could reccomend you to try the PSA method described by ioStux, but instead you start with a 50/50 sensibility. Then you pick a sheet, a calculator and you do your calcs.
About the operation i feel better, it wasn’t really that terrible as i expected (i was kinda scared of anestesy, but i didn’t felt nothing for the whole operation), i have only a 2cm wound in my b side, and i get the wound cleaned and applied a new band aid every day_
I have been inactive too because i started school again and i’ve got a DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D to mess with around.
BTW the new graphical effects for Mei in PTR are gorgeus and feel more like ice and snow instead of a mysterious gas, also the ultimate shows the effective sphere radius
I even feel like the tracer for her alt-fire is a lot easier to track… Or it could be the same and I’m loony. 
Also, wonder why don’t do have more sphere radius for other attacks that do area effects or splash damage.
There is a thing that kinda bothers me as you read in the OP. I feel Mei is kinda balanced and underpowered at the same time, like she could have something more apart bug fixes. Because IDK if the GOATS comp combined to Mei’s bugs prevents her to perform well or she lacks something.
Also i wrote about the cast time and seems to be 0.8 seconds (tested on Aim Hero), and i wonder if the cast time of icicles should be lower
I’ll go one step further and post controversial opinion: depending on situation, i feel Mei is either balanced, underpowered, or very strong.
On bad day, i feel like Mei is still one of the weaker DPS heroes, but on good day, i can just click enemies on head consistently from across the map. And that’s just icicles i’m talking about.
Obviously i want to buff her, but i’m scared to think where that could lead. I honestly feel like it’s just better to leave Mei exactly where she is to avoid trouble. I don’t want them to buff Mei just to make her too good and then potentially nerf her back to where we started.
I just have conflicting feelings about this.
She is balanced offensively, so that’s why she feels balanced.
However, defensively, her kit is just easy to disrespect and it’s actually pretty bad. That’s why she feels underpowered.
She’s a weird off-tank, semi-DPS character with slow/freeze CC. She’s effective when she’s going all out with her CC/damage. But when she’s using the defensive half of her kit, it only feels useful/good when used to cut off choke-points or block damage.
tbh all they have to do is apply a Slow AoE/light DPS around her Cryofreeze and Ice Wall. This way it has to be respected, but it’s not breaking the game. The AoE could be a lvl 1 slow and 10dps. The AoEs don’t stack and the status infliction lasts 0.5 second after the enemy leaves the AoE.
Ice Wall = 3m AoE around it and if 1 of the pillars are broken the AoE goes away.
Cryofreeze = 6m AoE around it.
Another thing I’d like if for Cryofreeze to stop sucking. It blocks damage, yes, but it is best used in small 1-2 second bursts because any longer and Mei’s team is left to fight a 5v6 for too long (4 seconds of 5v6 is mighty bad). So condensing the hps into a 2 second duration and cutting 2 seconds off the cooldown would be lovely.
The other option is to allow her to slowly reload while in there for the 4 seconds, something small like 25-35 ammo per second. Or increase the healing to be 50hps to 60hps so she can use it for shorter durations and still get some value out of the secondary effect.
Personally i would tweak the cooldowns for wall and cryofreeze, so if they aren’t used for the whole duration they get a cooldown reduction and they’re more present.
About the ice wall IDK if one pillar or half second more would make a difference.
For the cryofreeze i think a partial reload would buff the offensive part of her kit, idk if a reduced cooldown (10 seconds) would be a good idea.
I remember from Yeti Hunt event Mei had a faster cryofreeze (2 seconds but faster healing), but i don’t know how would impact her, because she losts a stalling ability but she’s more present in fights
All in all, stalling is great but there are many forms of stalling. Other Heroes can also stall, not as well as Mei in Cryofreeze since it’s a solid 4 seconds uninterrupted, but decently enough to get the job done. Mei on the other hand sets herself up to be easily ambushed/head shot when she’s in Cryofreeze and if her allies are out fighting she leaves them to fend for themselves.
It’s less about keeping her stalling niche and more about letting Cryofreeze get maximum value in most situations… While also letting her get back to her team/the fight faster. A shorter Cryofreeze also gives the enemy less time to prepare for an ez-kill situation vs Mei, so ironically, it helps keep her alive tactically instead of just using a flat 4 second pause button lol.
So, a Mei that is alive and more active in the fight risks less than a Mei that stalls for 4 seconds? Because in those 4 seconds the team it’s like a 5v6.
It’s better to keep the stalling capability of cryofreeze or it’s something that’s could be sacrificed for something else?
I agree, I think cooldowns are one of the problems, she has some of the longest cooldowns in the game, especially as all the new heroes and reworked heroes have quick cooldowns. That and the awful favour the shooter on her abilities that is still in the game despite Blizzard claiming they would have a fix incoming months ago.
I think she’s in a good place, not amazing, but not terrible. However, she will quickly fall to F-tier if they keep reworking heroes with low cooldowns and introducing more, especially when her abilities are all easily countered despite the long cooldowns.
I feel like something just needs to be done around cryo right now.
Being able to use ice wall while cryo’d would be nice or cryo healing for more or faster.
Think of it this way.
Soldier has Biotic Field which is a stronger and longer heal than Mei’s Cryofreeze, but doesn’t block damage - it’s just a 40hps heal. Since he is being healed and is free to do whatever he pleases in the AoE, he technically has some stalling power (not vs burst damage which sucks). So while a team fight is happening, it’s still a 6v6. Then to top it all off, Biotic Field can heal his allies too.
Mei sits in a block for 4 seconds during a 5v6 while getting a weaker heal that only she receives. She is unable to move and exiting the block puts her in a short 0.1-0.2 second duration where she is vulnerable for point blank headshots. It’s as bad as if someone fell back to grab a health pack, except instead of her retreating to a safe space… She’ll pop out of her block surrounded by enemies.
Stalling is not a Mei-specific niche, but for her, it’s where a great deal of Cryofreeze’s power is tied up. It’s an astounding ability, as are many damage-erasing abilities. But it’s balanced around a mostly-hurtful 4 second duration instead of a more-useful 2 second duration.
Ironically, one of the things that people find annoying about her (besides her CC) is how Cryofreeze lets her survive/heal/stall for long periods of time… In very low tiers. Like, can’t aim point-blank tiers. So it’d be a win-win for all tiers if it were condensed into 2-ish seconds. People in higher tiers get a skill that packs the punch it deserves for an all-around valuable 2 seconds instead of a niche 4 seconds (for full duration). People in lower tiers can shave 2 seconds off of Mei’s stall-tactics that give them grief.
100% agree. She’s better than before, but still niche. Having niche Heroes is fine if their tools can be respectable enough to be used in many situations when skill is involved (high skill ceiling). Many fighting games have “niche” characters, but their MUs don’t suffer because with enough skill they can be tough SoBs.
Side note: her cooldowns aren’t so bad. When used to their full extent, they are 5 (Ice Wall) and 8 (Cryofreeze). However, a good Mei will rarely use Cryofreeze for the full duration. So it’s actually a 10-11 second cooldown in most scenarios which is total BS. It just further backs up that Cryofreeze is improperly balanced for wide-range usage and can be easily fixed if Blizzard cared enough to do so.
Honestly, that’d be too OP. Being able to cast a solid wall while being completely safe is too much.
Cryofreeze is used to block damage (among great Meis) and rarely for stalling purposes. So to make Cryofreeze better, the only thing they can do is make it more powerful - which is not ideal because that might make her too annoying. Or condense it so it can heal faster within 2 seconds and also be readily available for her (10 second cooldown instead of 12).
mei needs a light sabre. seriously tho mei is ok.
12 seconds for a cryofreeze it’s pretty long compared for example to Reaper’s wraith form, i know S76 has the biotic field cooldown of 15 seconds (but he can attack and heal himself), but Reaper and Mei don’t have this possibility.
That would be really cool as you said, because 2 seconds have less impact in a fight, so she would count a bit more instead of letting the team in a virtual 5v6, and for lower bracket she would be less frustrating. Obviously a shorter duration is compensated by a faster healing rate.
BTW, what do you think about the reduction of cooldown if an ability is not used for the whole duration? For the cryofreeze and ice wall changes i would do something like this:
I think ice wall currently lasts for 4.5s to be exact. The ideas are also what I’ve proposed before, so I’d still support them. There is some numerical stuff I’d want to point out though.
For cryo-freeze healing, it should be noted that higher burst is always better, which might require slightly less overall healing to compensate.
For ice wall, at first I also thought a direct reduction is a good idea, until I realize that an ability that allows you to do an effective 1s root and block burst damage every 6-7seconds is kind of really strong. I do think cooldown reduction is q good mechanic, but the exchange rate should be lower.
Ye, those Cryofreeze changes are about what I’d want if they buffed her properly. Though the healing might have to be 50hps since it’d be readily available frequently, but unlike the frequent “invulnerable” abilities, it keeps her rooted in place, doesn’t reload, AND can be hazardous if used improperly. Anything lower than 37.5hps would suck, but anything higher than 62.5hps would be unfair.
As for the ice wall…
Having the wall’s blue outline be visible would be pretty neat. But it’d be inconsistent since other LoS blockers don’t get wall-hax. So it’s not a necessity… For the time being.
Ice Wall’s cooldown is currently fair. Sometimes 1 second is all she needs to block someone from doing something dangerous. So giving her a refund for a great 1 second wall would be kinda unfair. The Wall just needs a “respect this wall like you respect shields” tool. Like a Chill AoE, even if it’s just 1m of the wall’s surrounding area and just applies a lvl 1 slow that lasts 1 second max (when the AoE is left). It doesn’t even have to deal damage or stack. But it’d be nice to have a light 5dps-10dps to get those ultra slippery Heroes who Mei is supposed to counter.
I don’t think Mei need any buffs right now.
Sure, some changes sounds good, but I don’t think she is in need of buffs.
I do think they should address her bugs though. Especially the one with Cryo-Freeze.
But this does sounds nice.
For 2 seconds 60 hp/s woukd be 120hp in total, sound morr balanced to me, because if we give cryofreeze a 10 sec cooldown and 2 seconds duration it becomes more frequent, and in this is a trade off: more frequent, less “-1 teammate in fight” and faster healing ability in change of lower healing value and stalling capability.
The wall blueprint idea is made to coordinate teammates and try to prevent wrong walls. Btw what about a 5 seconds duration and 8 seconds cooldown?