Mei’s Christmas skin in Overwatch is only received “so-so” by fans – Jeff Kaplan apologizes.
For several days now, the Christmas event “Winter Wonderland” has been active in Overwatch, and players can earn 12 different skins and plenty of other items – or buy them directly through loot boxes and credits. However, not all players are happy with the new skins. Many find Mei’s new skin to be a thorn the size of a Christmas tree in their eye. For many, it’s just a “simple recolor with a pom-pom hat” and also a unique animation as an ice block.
A player demanded in the forum that “someone from Blizzard needs to respond to the criticism and finally clarify what exactly makes a legendary skin.”
Jeff Kaplan, the Game Director, responded promptly:
“We don’t have specific rules about what makes a skin legendary or epic. We decide that more or less based on gut feeling and ask ourselves what is particularly cool. Coolness is, of course, very subjective, and based on the community’s reaction, we were clearly off the mark this time. Our reasoning for why the skin is legendary was based on the fact that we replaced the visual effect of Cryostasis (the ice block was transformed into a snowman).
We thought that was pretty special and created it specifically based on suggestions from the community that we read months ago when fans speculated that we would hold a winter event. Obviously, many people don’t agree with us, and that’s okay. It’s all good feedback, and we learn for future events.”
Cortyn says: Personally, I quite like the new Mei skin, and when comparing the various legendaries in the game, there are indeed some differences in quality and the effort of the “additional” features. I think this shouldn’t be viewed so critically, especially since all the new skins are free updates that can additionally be earned via credits. Plus, I really like the snowman ice block.
