Riot, you now need to make a second, more mage-like Soraka

Vesh I will say this though, a champion whose core strength is healing allies will probably not be very good by herself, since the majority of her power budget is dedicated to being the best healer in the game.

Dear riot, I understand that you needed to rework soraka. However I'm not terribly happy with this new direction. Soraka was the second champion I picked up. Some of my favorite experiences in the game were taking her into a solo lane, and this was before it became popular to do so.

You know how some people can fall in love with champs thematically? Well something I've been harping on is that people can fall in love with champions mechanically as well. Sometimes it's how a champion can be played is what you fall in love with. This is a game after all so you really shouldn't discount gameplay elements. One of the prerework elements of soraka was of an old-school sustained damage AoE mage with a poke. Sure you healed up as necessary, but your Qs and well timed E-AAs were your bread and butter.

Now her Q is going bye-bye. Considering she's a 450 beginner champ I'm not sure how tying her healing into a skill shot is going to work out. That's another discussion though. Her E is getting nerfed. I'm pretty sure her attack speed or slow bananas is going to change any. Rylai's just lost health so she's going to be less tanky if she can still use that item well.

That's why I'm asking you kindly for a second Soraka champion. Someone who's thematically and mechanically similar to the current one, but with more gameplay power given to lane pushing and poking than healer. If Soraka was a big healer/little mage, I'm asking that Soraka the 2nd be a big mage/little healer. Maybe make the new champ a divine champ who came down after soraka left because her absence screwed up some form of balance. Iron Sylus often talks about champs from a similar area sharing fashion and visual aestheics, well Soraka the 2nd would help fill out that cultural region of the game.

I think this has multiple benefits to riot:

1. Fills out an area of a game more
2. It builds on a champ with a built in fan base
3. It allows a portion of said fan base to have the style of champ they no longer have access to
4. You have a strong idea of what kind of gameplay elements you need to hit on and have a strong starting point to work with
5. With Soraka no longer going to be a solo lane champ, it'll give you guys to make another old school pushing mage that you just created a void for. However this version will be balanced for solo lanes more than supports.
6. It's been known for awhile that old school mages need help. Trying to make a new one in this environment would give you more insight and a fresh take on what's going on with them and what they need to make them useful without forcing a meta shift or making them OP.
7. Do it for the Poros!

You know, maybe you could give Soraka the 2nd a snow theme and replace the unicorn horn with Poro horns and make her Poraka, the Loving Protector of Poros, little children, and cute things. Make the ult like Janna's with a stun instead of a knockback. It'd at least make a cool Soraka skin if not a new champ idea. ;)