The "new" dragons have risk/reward backwards, which heavily contributes to snowballing
The idea is simple. The old dragon gave a flat amount of gold, where as the new dragons (bar air) grant a % increase in power based on previous purchased stats (Earth = % objective damage, Fire = % AP/AD, Water = % HP/MP regen).
This means that the benefits of taking the dragon are directly proportional (3/4 of the time) to the amount of gold you've already spent. Yet, the winning team will almost always have more gold. and because they've invested more gold in items they're going to be stronger, which means it's a lower risk to for that team to take the dragon. Yet, because they're ahead, they benefit more from the dragon than the losing team otherwise would.
E.g.
Team A: 5000g Team B: 4000g
Team B is clearly at some amount of a disadvantage in a fight. When team A looks to take the dragon, they're at a lower risk if a fight breaks out, yet they stand to gain (rounded) 500g from taking it. Where as team B looking to take the dragon, at a higher risk of losing if a fight breaks out, only stand to gain (rounded) 400g from taking it.
So not only is the risk in favor of the winning team, but so is the reward.
The solution is simple. Make the dragons start providing flat buffs rather than % bonuses based on gold spent.
Just as concept. Fire: +10/20/30 AD and AP Earth: +15/30/45 true damage burn to towers (like red buff) Water: + 5/10/15 health and mana per 5 seconds Air: ... well as i said this one is pretty much already this way.
Or you know... All dragons: +XXX gold to each allied champion... But if you wanted to keep them unique make their element actually have a noticeable change in the fight.
