I believe it's about time you stop catering to low elo

I'm sorry to say (being of that majority myself) that you will NEVER balance the game properly if you keep catering to the lower portion of the population (as end the bottom of the leaderboards). There are going to be noob crushing champions. That's just the way it is. That's how the game operates. There will be champs that require more teamwork to shut down than others. But that's fine. That's how it should be. You can't get better unless you learn how to deal with said champions.

With that said, I believe it's time to start balancing around the higher end of the spectrum. I know why you don't. You've explained it numerous times. I understand. We understand. But I don't agree, and I might be a bit presumptuous here, but I believe most others don't agree as well. If you want proper balance, you need to look at the higher end of the spectrum. What works? What doesn't work? Games are only balanced when you put strategies through a perfect simulator to see what's superior/inferior to the next. And you'll only get that viewing the higher part of the game. I can almost guarantee that this won't affect lower elo that much.

If people in lower brackets want to rise up, they need to adapt. You can't keep all of the masses happy, but at the very least you can try to balance your game properly. If it's working and games are balanced and even in high play, then the game is balanced. If champs can't be viable in higher elos, then so be it. If champs are too strong in lower elos but balanced in higher elos, then so be it. I prefer to have the game completely balanced and struggle dealing with it because of my own shortcomings, rather than having it completely broken and one sided.