Supports need to gain as much experience and have as much or more gold gain as ANY other role.

This is all that needs to be done. The other issues would work themselves out.

The support class has shit for itemization. Why is that?** Because other roles abuse support items. **Why do other roles abuse support items? Because supports are balanced around being fucking broke and need items that are cheap and cost-effective.

How should this be done? I don't know, but I do know trying to balance items around supports - who are less wealthy than their other brethren - isn't working. Sure, Rito could just design clunky items with super specific requirements for optimal use, but then why not just design a single clunky support mastery - that all supports would take - that would solve support gold and experience problems?

Here's an example of how such a mastery could work: Twin Souls Keystone Mastery - link your soul permanently with another champion, causing all experience and gold gain from enemy minions to be duplicated across the bond. This mastery would also have several clauses that would prevent potential abuse: players must be x distance from each other, lower level soul bonded partners receive elevated experience, players can only have one soul mate.