When Blizzard sent out invitations for what appeared to be a holiday-themed update to Overwatch, many gamers expected Mei, everyone's favorite climatologist, to be front and center in the event. Mei had a frost gun and had skills that utilized ice, so it was widely expected that she would be the star of the update.
When the Winter Wonderland update was rolled out, gamers found that there was indeed a heavy focus on Mei, particularly due to the event-exclusive brawl, Mei's Global Offensive. In the mode, all players used Mei in 6-on-6 battles, with her frost gun replaced with a one-shot snowball launcher.
Gamers, however, are overwhelmingly not happy about one thing in the Winter Wonderland update, and that is the legendary skin that was designed for Mei.
Backlash Against The Mei-rry Skin
Fans of Mei were looking forward to the legendary skin that the hero was expected to receive in the Winter Wonderland update, particularly because she was not able to receive a special skin for the first two seasonal events of Overwatch.
Legendary skins are items that can rarely be acquired through the loot boxes of special events. Players can also choose to purchase legendary skins through the Overwatch in-game store.
However, players think that the legendary skin for Mei, simply named Mei-rry, does not deserve to be called as such. As seen in the preview screen for the skin, it features a simple recolor of her usual snow-worthy clothes, turning it from mostly blue to mostly red with green parts and white trims. To complete the holiday look, Blizzard then added a Santa hat.
Overwatch Game Director Apologizes And Explains Mei's Legendary Skin
Jeff Kaplan, the game director of Overwatch, received the feedback against Mei's legendary skin loud and clear, and has issued an apology to players.
"We don't have a specific rule for what makes something Legendary or Epic. We just sort of make a gut call based off of what we think is cool," Kaplan said in a post on the official Overwatch forums. He admitted that, based on the reaction of the players, their gauge on whether or not the skin was cool enough to be called a legendary one was off.
Kaplan explained that the reason they made Mei-rry a legendary skin went beyond how it looked visually, as Overwatch developers reworked the visual effect for Mei's Cryo-Freeze skill while using the skin. Normally, when Mei activates the skill, she hides herself within an ice block, but while wearing the legendary skin, Mei instead hides herself within a snowman.
Kaplan said that they decided to do the snowman Cryo-Freeze based on suggestions from the Overwatch community, and that the feedback against Mei's legendary skin allowed the developers to learn something that can be used in future events.
For Mei fans who worry that it would take a long time for Mei to get another legendary skin, Kaplan noted that there is no need for such concerns, promising that Mei will receive something awesome in early 2017.
