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Overwatch 2 players were stunned to boot up the team shooter and see that Mei had been removed from the game. At first, some players suspected that she was impacted by one of the game’s bugs. Instead, it turns out that Mei’s removal was very much intentional.
Yes, much like Bastion and Torb, it turns out that Mei was removed from Overwatch 2 due to some serious problems with the character. While Mei wasn’t one of the most popular characters in the game at the time of her removal, fans are still wondering when she is going to return. So far as that goes, here’s what you need to know.
Why Was Mei Removed From Overwatch 2?
Mei was removed from Overwatch 2 due to a bug that was impacting her Ice Wall ability. Much like the Mei of old, it seems that the Ice Wall ability was allowing Mei’s teammates to reach unintended places.
Again, anyone familiar with the “Mei of old” will know about this little problem. Teams are able to “ride’ Mei’s Ice Wall, which can sometimes allow characters who are not meant to go vertical to get to places that they normally wouldn’t be able to go. While that’s part of the appeal and design of that ability, some experimental Overwatch 2 players have found ways to use that ability as a jumping-off point for some out-of-bounds locations that give one team significant advantages and put others at a nearly impossible disadvantage.
What’s particularly interesting about this removal is the suggestion that Blizzard is going to try to fix this ability in a way that will not only prevent known exploits but future exploits as well. Again, we’ve seen this problem with Mei in the past, so it will be interesting to see if Blizzard is just going to nuke the world and remove the ability to ride Mei’s Ice Wall altogether. That brings us to our net point…
When is Mei Returning to Overwatch 2?
Mei is scheduled to return to Overwatch 2 at the time of the game’s next update on November 15. While the Overwatch 2 team suggests that Mei could miss that November 15 update, they certainly seem to hope to have her ready at that time.
The Overwatch 2 team’s acknowledgment of that November 15 update is also interesting in and of itself. Previously, the team had suggested that they would not update the game until December. That upset a lot of Overwatch 2 players who have spotted numerous necessary balance updates in the game already and simply want the Overwatch 2 team to mix things up from time to time. It looks like the team will prepare to do just that in the near future.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the Overwatch 2 team manages to fix the Mei bug in time for that update, though. Fixing one bug usually opens up others, so unless they decided to make some serious changes to Mei’s abilities, they could decide to wait to see how the early days of that update play out before they throw Mei back into the fray. However, it certainly seems like they’re doing what they can to get her back into the fold as soon as possible.