An idea for Season 5 Masteries

I think that, right now, there's very little uniqueness in how masteries have been done. I feel they could use a small rework.

What if we made masteries something slightly more akin to WoW talents. (they were the inspiration, but I have no intention of completely ripping them off).

Keep the 3 trees, offense/defense/utility.

Have the following number of options for each tree.

Tier 1: 4 options (requires no points) Tier 2: 4 options (requires 1 point spent in previous tiers) Tier 3: 3 options (requires 2 points spent in previous tiers) Tier 4: 3 options (requires 3 points spent in previous tiers) Tier 5: 2 options (requires 4 points spent in previous tiers) Tier 6: 2 options (requires 5 points spent in previous tiers) Tier 7: 1 option (requires 6 points spent in previous tiers)

Now, for each option, you would only need 1 point invested to have access to the full value. This means that to balance things, we'd need to reduce the number of points available to each summoner. Reduce the total number of points (at level 30) to 10. We would grant the first Mastery point at level 3, and every 3rd level from there. So it'd be levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30.

Keep in mind, in order to get the Tier 7 (ultimate) talent, you're effectively spending 21 levels worth of points, same as our current system (although maybe with more tiers).

However, this scheme also offers a lot more flexibility with masteries.

For example, out of the 10 points I have, I could spend 1 point in each Tier 1 offense, then the other 6 into all the options between Tier 3 and 4 offense.

Or, I could put one point into each tier 1 through 7, then spend the other 3 points in a different tree or even invest the rest of them into offense.

As part of each tree, no ability in any tier would require a previous tier ability in order to be invested in. So there would be no skill in Tier 2 out of the 4 choices that would require any of the choices to be invested in from tier 1. For those who still don't get it, here's a graphical example.

Tier 1 has skills A, B, C and D. Tier 2 has skills W, X, Y and Z.

In order to invest in any skill from Tier 2, all you need to do is invest in either A, B, C or D. You are not required to invest in any specific one to use any of the next tier's skills. In addition, you may invest in all of the Tier 2 skills as long as you invest at least 1 point in Tier 1.

That may seem a bit overpowered, but that's part of the flexibility and the fun. In addition, it allows players to choose how they want to build up to Tier 7 outside of investing a specific number of points in previous tiers.

I'd put up a graphical example, but for right now you'll need to try to visualize what I've got in mind.