Update: According to a tweet from Blizzard (opens in new tab), the patch for "Overwatch 2" that brings back Mei as a playable character is now scheduled to be released on Thursday, November 17, at 11 a.m. PT.

Original story "Overwatch 2" cannot keep a hero in one place for more than a week.

According to an update on Blizzard's forums (opens in new tab), Mei, the latest hero to be removed to fix a bug, has not yet returned to Overwatch 2. The game's mid-season patch has been delayed due to an unspecified "critical issue," the developer said. It was not stated whether the issue was related to Mei himself or a larger problem within Overwatch 2. [Blizzard is working on a release "as soon as possible" and says to check the forums and the Overwatch Twitter account (opens in new tab) for updates.

Mei was removed (open in new tab) on October 31 due to a bug in her Icewall ability. Players discovered that Mei could use this ability to wedge into a corner and clip into the map's geometry using a teleporting character like Kiriko. From there, Kiriko can switch to a Symmetra-like hero and attack the player safely from the bottom of the map (open in new tab). Clever, but not very nice.

Before Mei, Blizzard removed Bastion (open in new tab) for two weeks while they fixed his ultimate ability exploit. If Mei does not return today, she will be out of the game longer than the robot.

The rest of the patch includes balance changes to overperforming heroes, including Genji, D.Va, Zarya, Sombra, and Kiriko. Overwatch League viewers who watched the Grand Finals will have already seen this patch in action: Zarya's invincible reign is over, Genji has been replaced with Reaper, and Sombra is no longer played at all. There will be no change whatsoever in Sojourn, a new hero who wields a railgun and is, contrary to most people's expectations at this point, ridiculously powerful. That is, unless something changes from the patch notes Blizzard released last month (opens in new tab).

If you log into the store now, you'll see a new colorful Mei skin for sale in the store for 1,000 Overwatch coins. The Retro Star (opens in a new tab) skin is wrapped in pastel pink, gives Mei turquoise blue hair, and has a color-changing shooting star. If only there were a hero in the game who could use this.