Fixing Bard: The high-maintenance mystic

So Bard's been out for a week now. His winrate is absolutely pitiful, and his kit, while having some definite strengths, is kinda impossible to manage.

The biggest offender is probably Bard's chimes. While they're an interesting idea for sure, they're also simultaneously necessary and impossible to gather. In just one game, I've seen chimes under towers, lanes over, in the middle of jungle camps, and all the way back at my base. They're a nightmare to try and gather while retaining a presence and, as the only scaling measure for Meeps' damage AND utility, they're basically the glue that holds Bard's kit together. Which is why it's kind of a shame they're only relevant for that one part of his kit.

Bard's Chimes and Meeps need a rethinking, both to broaden their impact and increase Bard's flexibility in going for either of them. Chimes need to apply, in some way, to Bard's basic abilities, Meeps need to scale on something other than Chimes so Bard can recover if he can't maintain a constant map presence 24/7, and Chimes themselves need to pop up either more frequently or in a tighter radius around Bard to start out with so he can retrieve them without having to knock on the enemy's front gate and ask for his ball (bell) back.

To start off with, Chimes and Meeps:

• Passive - Chimes
• Every 45 seconds Bard spawns a pair of Chimes on the map, which linger for up to 5 minutes. Collecting a Chime grants Bard 15 bonus Movement Speed for up to 10 seconds or until he enters combat, which stacks up to 5 times. Collecting Chimes also grants Bard 20 Experience and restores 15 (+5% missing mana) mana.
• Passive - Meeps
• Bard periodically attracts small spirits known as Meeps to his presence. Whenever Bard attacks, a Meep flings itself at the target, dealing 25 (+5 per Level) (+2 per Chime) (+30% AP) magic damage to them and slowing them by 20% (+5% per 10 Meeps) (+5% per 100 AP) for 1 second. At 25 Chimes Meeps deal damage in a small area around their target, with the radius increasing at 65 Chimes. Meeps spawn every 12 seconds (Reduced by 1 second for every 30 Chimes, down to a minimum of 8 seconds) and Bard can store 1 chime at a time (Plus 1 at 15 Chimes and every 30 Chimes thereafter, up to a maximum of 4).

Chimes pop up more frequently and their speed boost is slightly longer, but a bit less potent. They also lose a small tad of mana restoration, but the major part is still intact. The changes to Meeps is more interesting, as Meeps scale far differently and far more reliably. Though they might lose a bit of damage early game if Bard's diligent in his collecting, they have a far more reliable power curve.

Now, the second part of this plan is improving Bard's basic abilities. Specifically, applying Chimes to them to grant Bard some reliable damage and healing not as reliant on his scaling.

• Q - Cosmic Binding
• Active - Bard fires a bolt of energy in a line that passes through the first enemy it hits, dealing 80/110/140/170/200 (+2 per Chime) (+40% AP) magic damage to them and continuing through, slowing them by 50% for 1.2/1.35/1.5/1.65/1.8 seconds. If the bolt collides with another enemy or a wall, both enemies are stunned for the duration instead and the second target is dealt damage as well.
• Cost: 60 Mana
• Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 Seconds
• Range: 925

Q gains some damage when enough Chimes are collected, and gains a slight increase in stun duration early a the cost of a little cooldown increase. Nothing major.

• W - Caretaker's Shrine
• Active - Bard places a Shrine on the ground that gathers ambient power, healing the first allied champion to touch it for 30/50/70/90/110 (+1 per Chime) (+20% AP), granting them a 30/35/40/45/50% (+5% per 100 AP) movement speed boost that decays over 1.5 seconds. If the Shrine remains for 10/9/8/7/6 seconds it becomes empowered, doubling the heal and duration of the movement speed boost. Bard can place up to three Shrines out at a time, but enemies can stand on Shrines for 1.5 seconds to destroy them.
• Cost: 100/105/110/115/120 Mana
• Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12 Seconds
• Range: 800
• Acquisition Radius: 100

Caretaker's Shrine becomes highly efficient as a heal as Bard collects Chimes, and the charge time is no longer stupidly long late game, making it more reliable for pre-teamfight engagements and the like.

• E - Magical Journey
• Active - Bard creates a one-way magical corridor through a wall that allies and enemies alike can pass through by clicking on the entrance. Allies are sped up by 10/20/30/40/50% while traveling down the corridor, and the corridor lasts for 5 seconds. When Bard travels through the corridor, Magical Journey's current cooldown is reduced by 2% for every 5 Chimes Bard has collected. This can only happen once per casting.
• Cost: 40/35/30/25/20 Mana
• Cooldown: 22.0/20.5/19.0/17.5/16.0 Seconds
• Range: 900

Magical Journey gets a late game cooldown reduction, especially if Bard takes it himself. As a side note, if nothing else, make the god damned entrance on the portal easier to click. It's a god damned nightmare currently, especially from any angle where Bard places the portal on the top side of a wall.

Aside from these changes, I've got a couple of other ideas to help Bard manage himself and increase his relevance outside of specialized, highly trained gank squadrons.

• Meeps are generated on spellcast. That way Bard can lay down a constant barrage of slows if he gets into a good position, but is still easily punished due to his shorter than average range (Dat 500).
• Tempered Fate generates a Chime for each champion effected. Stun the entire enemy team? Chimes for you. Protect your team from a GP Ult/MF Ult/Fiddlesticks Ult/Kennen Ult gangbank? Chimes for you. Lock your team in place to be brutalized by the enemy team? Er, complementary Chimes for you.
• Grant Magical Journey a range limit but allow it to be placed in open space, with it able to traverse terrain as normal. Just being able to tunnel through walls isn't terribly magical.