Overwatch 2 has once again removed a hero from the game. Massive exploits have resulted in Mei disappearing from the game for now.
In Overwatch 2, it has become a running gag that something in the game is not functioning correctly. Almost continuously, certain heroes or maps are locked. The last patch brought Bastion and Torbjörn back for competitive play – but now the next hero has been removed from the game. Mei has been hit hard, she is no longer playable.
Why was Mei locked? In the Overwatch 2 subreddit, some videos have been circulating for days explaining what is going on with Mei and why she can currently cause massive problems. Mei is capable of performing significant exploits when interacting with other heroes.
This looked something like this: In the spawn room, Mei places an ice wall directly under herself, pressing her completely into the wall and the ceiling of the room. A second player then uses Kiriko to teleport directly to Mei. Kiriko often ended up “outside” the room and in an area that no player should enter. This allowed Kiriko to go “under the map”. An example can be seen in this clip:
Especially creative exploiters then took advantage of this to switch to another hero in Kiriko’s “spawn area”, such as Symmetra. Symmetra was then able to place her turrets below the map. The turrets could fire from there and damage players above, but no one could destroy the turrets.
Similar drastic exploits could also be found with other heroes, which likely prompted Blizzard to temporarily remove Mei from the game altogether.
What does this mean for balance? Without Mei, Overwatch 2 is missing an important DPS character who also brought a lot of utility with her. Mei’s ice wall could stifle many ultimates, and her primary weapon is the nightmare for Genji, who is currently going a bit out of control and will also be nerfed soon. The absence of one of his natural counters only makes it more difficult to play against him.
When will Mei return? At least the date for Mei’s return has already been set. Mei is expected to return on November 15, 2022, when the next scheduled patch for Overwatch 2 is due.
So enjoy the two weeks during which Mei won’t be pummeling you with her frost spray – or mourn her when she can no longer save you from the charging Reinhardt.
