Really now? Which part? The wall which is almost exclusively used in the presence of more than one enemy? The ice block which disregards all enemies no matter how many? The zoning ult which is more useful the more enemies she traps in it? Or the right-click icicle which is single-target only?
No, weâre talking about a heavy CC ability without cooldown that had counterplay by coordinated teamwork. That sounds finely balanced to me. If she has trouble only hitting oneâŠwell thenâŠwall them off ;> But oh no, that might make her use of the CC skillful. The horror.
Not for nothing, but, donât care and not part of this discussion, at least not directly. Keyword: directly. The discussion is that the problematic part of her kit wasnât addressed in a satisfactory fashion. It needed removal, not tweaking. You say âbut her emails damage!..â, but thatâs not the part weâre addressing, directly.
What you probably mean, is, âWell she may not be playable after taking out the busted part of her kitâ. To which I would reply, âshe might be, but only if you kept her in that state and did nothing with the characterâ. Orisa (why do I keep almost spelling that with two âsâ) got a nice revamp with the shield nerfs which kept her very playable. Meta, even. If your defense of Mei comes down to âsheâs unplayable without a really busted CC on primary fireâ you are either not imagining a rework of the character to make her playable (and perhaps even better than now), or youâre just relying on a busted ability like a crutch.
Also, I donât think I need to quote everyone saying it, but Meta status doesnât actually mean anything in terms of balance and gameplay. A busted ability on a non-meta hero still needs to be removed, just as much as a perfectly-balanced hero currently in meta does not need anything nerfed (despite perception they may need it due to currently being meta, poor Sym).
It doesnât have to freeze, either. Being slowed makes you immensely vulnerable, both so that you canât escape further slowing/freezing (except mobility cooldowns, but not everyone has them), and in the meantime itâs super easy to headshot you. Not just by Mei, but by everyone on her team. In gameplay terms, itâs the same as being Discorded. And if Zen could Discord everyone he got LOS on, at once, itâd be busted too.
Even if you do have a mobility cooldown - you have to be facing the right direction, have the ability ready to use, and it has to have enough range to get you out of danger, which includes enough range to stay out of her primary fire range after she tries to chase after you when youâre still slowed as an aftereffect (at least that was addressed on PTR). And during the initial slowing and your escape, you have to hope that none of the other five teammates of Mei capitalize on your slowness and just down you right then and there.
Many, in fact. Meiâs entire thing is preventing escape. Unless itâs a McCree thatâs going to flash and FTH you, you have a decent chance at escaping most close encounters of the third kind. Or at least fighting back and either getting a kill yourself or weakening an enemy to force a trade.