For the most part, Blizzard has been subtle about the way they change Overwatch heroes. However, all that went out the window when Mercy and D.Va got their new abilities and reworks. Add in the most recent Junkrat and Orisa buffs and it's easy to understand how players are starting to expect more drastic changes towards some of the least played Heroes.

So who better to change next than Mei?

As it stands now, here are the issues that make Mei an unpopular pick:

1. Mei's primary ability ramps up too slowly to punish highly mobile heroes.

2. Mei's Icewall is easily ignored by the majority of top tier heroes.

3. While she is powerful in a 1v1 scenario, that rarely occurs in organized play.

4. No mobility options mean Mei is prey to most offense heroes.

5. Mei's ultimate is too easy to avoid and, once again, highly mobile heroes escape it easily.


Despite the recent buffs to her ultimate ability, Blizzard, the common consensus is that high mobility heroes aren't sufficiently countered by Mei. With other heroes packing harder CC options that don't need time to ramp up, why bother picking Mei? The meta currently favors agile heroes and the introduction of Doomfist further cemented this trend.

Best known for his GM stream and rapid rank climbing, Ster explains the issue with Mei on his stream:

"The probability that there will be a Meta again where Mei shines is highly unlikely"

Simply put, Mei is already a strong hero, but only in certain metas that have been non-existent for a long time now. What is more problematic is that a dive meta is, on paper, the type of situations she should excel in. Ster is correct in assessing that Mei could easily be a powerful character, but those days of a slower-paced Overwatch are long gone.
 

Long time Overwatch players know that Mei has the potential to be an oppressively powerful character.

About a year ago, Mei had her alternate fire buffed tremendously, and the result was a community fed up with being headshot from across the map by rapid fire icicle blasts. Anger towards Mei (when she is powerful) is quite common, as her movement suppression abilities and self-heal don't have much room for counter play. However, after nearly 5 months of the "dive-meta" being so powerful, perhaps a buffer Mei can provide some relief.

After collectively falling in love with Mei all over again once her origin story cinematic was released, maybe it was easy to predict an outpour voices calling for Mei buffs. The most obvious fix is to increase her effectiveness against highly mobile heroes, a two fold solution that might finally suppress the dive meta while also helping Mei become a popular pick again.

What do you think should be done with Mei?

Let us know in the comments section what type of changes you think Mei needs. Should Blizzard change some numbers, or perhaps grant Mei a brand new ability? If the current trend of hero changes is anything to speculate on, big changes to Mei may already be on the way.