A Discussion on the Current Rune System

What is Riot's current stance on the Rune System and its role/purpose player's are to approach it with?

A little context: I decided to make a post dedicated to this question rather than ask it in the post mentioned below to both make a room of discussion revolving around this question and also to avoid dragging the discussion in Ypherion's post even further off topic.

I was reading a post started by Riot member Ypherion about some anouncements of upcoming, experimental changes for the 2015 Pre-Season that are headed to the PBE in the short future, but more on-topic, I was reading a lot of the comments. They mostly consisted of a few key arguments about the lack of Riot's accountability towards promises, specifically from previous pre-seasons, and some questions players had about what types of changes they, Riot, are considering.

The main thing that caught my attention while reading the comments was how quite a few of the questions about if these vaguely-alluded-to changes were about things Riot themselves have claimed weren't as efficient as could be and should be looked into either in the distant past or relatively recently which, for those things said in the past, held a glimmer of honesty to those who claimed Riot hasn't been very accountable in the past when it comes to promises. However, that's all moot when Riot themselves have said numerous times they know and understand our frustration when it comes to their failing on promises. They've also noted they want to work on that very issue, and in my opinion they have been doing a much better job with regards in that spectrum.

Yet, this post is more intended to focus on comments/conversations about the current state/status of the Rune System.

As of right now, runes, to the best of my interpretations, serve players either a means of expressing more about a champion in reinforcing certain plots about what a champion is known for contributing or just plain-ol' adding-stats-for-adding-stats-sake. The latter possibility seems more to be the most likely opinion Riot has about runes, and while just plain-ol' adding-stats-for-adding-stats-sake is not inherently a bad option to give players it is in the execution that determines its worth it adds to players. Riot has mentioned the Rune System is not the best, but they also stated it isn't of major importance in relation to other options to explore and mess with.

I could continue down this rabbit hole digging deeper into the flaws Riot has mentioned about the Rune System and maybe even propose an idea or two about what I think would help fix those flaws and others, but I would rather like to let Riot make their stance on the Rune System clear and known before i possibly waste even more time than I could have.

Also, if you have ideas of what you think is the purpose of runes, the problem/s with the Rune System is/are (if any), and/or Riot should do to go about solving those problems don't be afraid to comment below. However, I would like to remind and encourage you to do so as constructively as possible. What that means: Be conscious that your opinions, while may hold some very sound judgement and seem completely, 100% true, could very well be built off of things like simple misunderstandings, undeveloped contexts of current situations, etc. It just goes to show that we might not necessarily know what Riot knows and the same goes for them. If you want to convince someone you are right, then you are wrong. Rather, IF YOU WANT TO EXPRESS THOSE THINGS THAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE TRUE BUT UNDERSTAND YOU COULD EASILY BE PROVEN WRONG ONLY THEN ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT.

Thanks for expressing your thoughts and sharing with the world! :D