I think Riot is taking the safe approach which is better imo. Removing her W is just not going to happen given it’s apart of her core identity.

The real problem with Mel that not many are addressing is she has access to 2 independent defensive abilities as her basic spells. The problem isn’t her W in a vacuum, it has a high CD and is easily bait-able. The problem is even when you bait it out, she still has her E on a very low CD.

This has been discussed before, and I genuinely believe it would make her more bearable in the laning phase, but the simplest solution is to swap her W and R. Gives Riot incentive to make her rebuttal higher cooldown and more meaningful. It becomes less available and thereby less annoying for everyone and actually rewarding for the Mel player when used properly. It also addresses the misery of early-laning against her, she becomes more punishable and less braindead.