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Overwatch’s climate scientist is getting some tweaks.
Mei is one of the next characters set to receive balancing adjustments at some point in the future, according to Overwatch developer Josh Noh. He announced the hero is in the developers’ sights in response to a discussion on the game’s alleged “power creep.”
“The most common feedback I’ve been reading recently is that Baptiste and Mei are very overpowered (there are some upcoming changes to these two as well) and Genji/Soldier are clearly the weakest heroes,” Noh said on the Blizzard forums.
It’s still unclear what the developers have planned for Mei. The comments only point toward changes without specifying what’s new. The team may opt to revert some of her earlier improvements. Over 2018, Blizzard boosted the capacity of her alternate fire, increased the duration of her freeze, and allowed her primary fire to pierce through enemies.
The introduction of role lock forced teams to have two of each role and caused the end of the infamous GOATS compositions. It was succeeded by double shield lineups, taking advantage of recently-released Sigma to provide a mobile shield alongside Orisa. Mei found a favorable place in that meta.
Her ice walls can isolate specific enemies and the hero can chain-freeze the same enemy multiple times. Her freeze is accompanied by a slow effect, which nearly locks enemies into place and makes them easy targets, while her alternate fire shoots a hard-hitting projectile over a long distance. Her Cryo Freeze also provides a self-heal and full immunity to incoming damage.
Parts of the Overwatch community argue that the hero is overtuned and that recent buffs made her overpowered. Some players have been calling for the reversal of some of the hero’s enhancements.
Mei isn’t the only hero who will undergo changes in the PTR. Jeff Kaplan confirmed that Blizzard plans to finetune Baptiste’s Immortality Field and Noh also revealed a buff to D.Va’s mobility.
