Riot does only want assasines mages and bruisers in this game. This current bullsh8t is exactly what tencent wanted. Playerbase shifting to china korea and japan, whereas the west world players are quitting in masses.
Vlad's "current" incarnation (before Riot removed 20% of his damage with no compensation, the least they could have done is give him 5 MS) is probably the most healthy he's ever been.
Old Vlad had the issue that Old Ryze did. If he got ahead he was literally immortal and you couldn't step into his range without dying. It was so bad that Riot basically had to gut and later remove spell vamp because Vlad was so good at abusing it. New Vlad does more damage than Old Vlad but has periods of weakness, and it's actually pretty obvious when Vlad is in a position to wombo combo you (he has flash up, crimson rush is up or is about to come up, he has R and W, and is charging his E). So you can just back off. If Vlad doesn't have Crimson Rush, if he's not super ahead his burst damage onto a priority target will be a lot lower.
Yes I member, but riot sold it's core players for some kids and the eastern players.