Why I think Zyra's design approach after MYMU was wrong

Wouldn't a circle Q be a better design to Zyra than a rectangle? Why would she have a damageability in the right angle to her root so she cant damage everyone she hits? She feels more odd to play than in Season 5 at this point. Everything done to her made her more frustrating and unskilled and even less rewarding to play. Every change how nice it was meant to be was not progressive at the end and cost too much in return.

(S2-S6) Zyra's kit has always been very nice: Her Q was a nice nuke, her E even with its problems in addition with alot of other things at that point was a good ability on its own with infinite units it hits and snares. The Ult would make her abilities even better and combos felt very satisfying and the W was a bonus to her basic abilities and Ult in the end. The only and main thing that sucked was her passive. I was and still am convinced a deathpassive fit her, because of how well-rounded and well designed her kit was. That one she had just was kinda trashy after the one nerf it received many years ago. She had alot of outside issues of course and needed an update. Her abilities and concept was awesome.

(S6-S7) Now what happened in MYMU looked even nicer: Her passive was replaced with random spawning seeds, she she effectively had 2-3x more plants. It was a great bonus. Her Q shape and damage was adjusted for it. Less bursty, more planty. She's definetly different already, but alot of stuff is the same. However after slight adjustments in P and Q, it turned out to be extremely suppressive as the numbers forshadows. Season 6 worlds. The Zyra and MF support we remember. But, she wont really get touched after that alot. She fit in the season 7 lethality adc meta, while also being vulnerable against them. She did not need nerfs. Afterwards she still wasn't really a balance issue, actually even too weak with the rise of ardent, since adcs could heal back the damage she would deal even in full combos. She was actually really weak. The only patch in S7 where she was way too oppressive and really good was the last patch during the Season.

(S8) On the other side, with the introduction of Preseason 8 alot of stuff changed for her: She really struggeled keeping up with the new runes. There really wasnt a page where you feel it was good. Other champions could utilize the new system way better than her and they would fill her niche. She simply couldnt keep up. The following changes were based on a(n already in S7 regarded unstatisying, not fulfilling and shelved) concept, which massively declined her gameplay experience: Her passive being more than a bonus to her kit. The range of her passive was lowered by 400 units, which is a massive buff making her spawn almost exclusively useful seeds. Her mana was buffed to make use them and the plantduration was increased to 8 seconds. But, for what trade? Her plant HP was changed. TLDR:

• melee autoattacks deal doubledamage
• dots deal half damage BUT: - The plant health doesnt scale, 50% bonusHP if ulted MEANING: effectively Singletarget abilites oneshot plants dealing 2x damage than before, Meleeautoattacks dealing 3x damage (oneshot), Ranged autoattacks deal 1.5x damage (2shot), AoE deals 2x damage (2shot). The reasoning behind all these changes were, to make her weaker in lower elo's. Pets being too oppressive based on elo, because lower elo players are not simply killing the plants or playing correctly against them has always been an issue in this game and hard to balance.

However, how is this the correct approach? An extended plantduration from 5-7.5 seconds to 8 seconds all the time do the exact opposite for low elo. Making plants squishier doesnt make players who dont understand zyra kill her plants. They still ignore or are overwhelmed and overstrained by the plants. They try to dodge a rectangle hitbox sideways instead of running away or in.

So, what did these changes really do? They only made her suck to play in higher elo. They dodge the Q more correctly. Plants feel to have a lifetime of 0-2 seconds in 90% of the cases. The way snares work, Vinelashers on melee champions are not existing. Snared enemies autofocus their nearest target, which is the Vinelasher and they oneshot them without the player giving the input and command to do so. That is not only bad design, its wrong design. It shouldn't be like that. You literally cant fullcombo any melee champion in this game and getting 2 ulted plants off (with your actively placed W). The first one dies before enraging and even autoing, the second dies within the snare. It is just so trash and unfun to play. No i shouldn't have to spawn plants 200 range away from my enemy. It's half of the plantrange, which gets lost. And i shouldn't have to draw triangles in a fight, I'm not playing osu. These changes were supposed (with resets on W) to make her a midlaner again, but shes honestly just way to pathetic thanks to these changes for that. Even though she starts with the most armor in game, she has like 200-250base HP less and least armor compared to all other mages. Her range on Q (both cast and the hitbox) are worse than all controlmages/carries, simply because she doesnt have a circle like them, while also only having 800 range.

The "Zyra is now the real plantmage" idea of S6 just brought her to this really aweful to play state: The passive, i admit really well coded for being an RNG passive, becoming the main part of her design is a massive problem. Its not playercontrolled or based on how good a player is, in contrast its generalistic and overwhelming. You dont need to be good to make use of it. And all her abilites are kinda based of her plants. Q became from a nuke to a mainly plantspawn ability. The rectange hitbox actually is even more obsolete with the reduced passive range. The damage part is never fully utilized even on midlane where you can farm. It anti-synergizes with her E, since its in the right angle to hit. Why wouldnt an AoE plant mage be able to damage everyone she catches with her AoE abilities. The followup of a sick 4 man snare is a 2 man Q. How unsatisying is that? A circle can have an outer spawn area as well and it can be rectangle worst case.

Her E had to get a snareduration buff, since these changes really made all her abilities lackluster, the runes made her lackluster and Liandries change made her awkward. The Ult would give a buff to her plants, but their vitality makes takes alot of power out of the ult. The power put into her passive, 8 second plants or useless Q shape should be put somewhere else to make her more fun to play. I'm not seeing any difference between good and bad Zyra's since the passive is so forgiving in lane. Zyra's doing Zyrastuff is not based on experience and skill, its based on the things the game is giving to one.

I did this with few Zyramains in NA and EUW from Diamond to Challenger. I personally would even nerf the P CD even more for some love on her Q (shape/damage) or maybe distinguish the W plants from the passive ones, but that would make her harder to read. These changes would already be a big nerf to Zyra and all those buffs would make her useful and most importantly more enjoyable to play. It would bring Zyra in 2019 and it would be required the followup to the changes that never came and are necessary for her gameplay experience. The balance between quality and quantity of plants isnt given. I doubt that if Zyra was released today the plants would stay that way for more than 2 patches. And its been like for 1 1/2 years now.