Is Dragon Having the Right Effect on the Game?

I wondered about the dragon changes as soon as the preseason started, and the first week of LCS games has given me to push I needed to post about it. Put simply, the changes to dragon were implemented so that dragon would feel as important as baron. Instead, I feel these changes have made dragon even less important in the game.

We have seen many LCS teams pretty much ignore dragon, especially since the buff it gives early game simply isn't very strong. It's power is much reduced early game, compared to the previous iteration when it gave a lot of gold. In the first week, we didn't see a single team get the 5 dragon buff; but, more importantly, we didn't see teams setting up meaningful fights around dragon as was intended. It's not really that strong late game, either, except in the special case where a team can somehow get all 5 (and not already be crushing the game).

Now, I put this in the game balance board because I don't want this to turn into an LCS discussion, exclusively. I see these same patterns in my own games. Dragons just don't matter very much. You can mostly ignore it, and it isn't a problem. People keep talking about how OP it is that people can solo dragon... I wonder if that's even true, given how little it really does for the team.

So, before we get into a discussion about changing dragon, please take the poll. Do you notice dragon being a big deal in your games? Or do you think it's mostly ineffective? Do teams who are already winning just take it, and dragon has little to do with their win, or is it actually a game-changer?

Most importantly, does anyone else feel like dragon has become a "win more mechanic," which allows the team who is winning to get more small bonuses, but if the losing team gets them, they aren't major enough to affect the outcome?