Re: All the Sightstone Threads

What if the problem wasn't with the stats on , but with the item itself?

Hear me out: Sightstone was created in Preseason 3 at a time where support itemization revolved entirely around wards: with support income at an even lower level than now, and no per-player cap on wards, supports were expected to buy practically nothing but wards, with little to no real items on the side. Sightstone was created to alleviate the gold burden on supports by giving them access to free, unlimited wards. Fast-forward to now, where not only do trinkets accomplish that exact same function, but there is such a massive amount of vision creep that it's easy to access multiple forms of vision on the map analogous to Sightstone (e.g. Wolves buff, Scuttle Crab, etc.). For 250 gold, anybody can purchase , which provides almost as many wards as Sightstone, without having to waste a "real" item slot. Sightstone has effectively become increasingly obsolete, and would have no real purpose if supports weren't expected to also constantly have on the side.

The other problem to Sightstone is that, not only does it carry little original gameplay of its own, it's impossible to make it more interesting: giving it any assortment of stats and bonuses independent of its vision means you may just as well make a new item with those same effects, which could be made a lot more interesting without its ward supply, and giving its upgrade, or potential upgrades, additional vision-based effects would make it even more of a must-buy, thereby reducing interesting gameplay overall (that's why is such a terrible upgrade, so that supports aren't forced to rush it).

In the end, I think the problem with Sightstone is that it still exists: it's a relic from a time where supports were little more than ward banks with peel and crowd control, and it's heavily outclassed by much cheaper and less cumbersome trinkets. The item itself is not only a burden to a support's inventory, it's also one that achieves little in the way of fun or interesting gameplay (in fact, rushing it tends to make bot lane overly safe and boring). It would likely be better for everyone, especially supports, if it were eventually removed in such a way that supports wouldn't be forced to permanently stock up on individual wards. The bigger picture here is also that vision, while originally a responsibility practically exclusive to supports, has now become a true team game, where every member gets to contribute at little to no cost. Ideally, everyone should contribute to vision equally, whether they're a support or a marksman, and that means League itemization needs to stop forcing the bulk of the vision game onto any single role.