I main soraka, got mastery 7 somewhere at lvl15, came to plat with her as my only pick, solo queue. I strongly feel nothing can beat supp that specializes in healing, and soraka is best at healing. It never made sense to me why would people play any other supp, with the exception of great premades with champs with great synergy. Soraka is useful in every situation because heal (+Q slow +W speed +E zoning) is useful in any situation and even then your teammates make your life unbearable by not disengaging from fights when low hp, chasing and focusing enemy tank supp, roaming solo and engaging even when they can't get a fast enough kill or not having a strong enough escape and build to survive any enemy champ they meet (basically, the qualities that only split pushing champs have), and so on. So, having a defensive supp that's good only in certain scenarios is 9th circle of hell, because you have random strangers on your disposal. Having an offensive supp is the only alternative to Soraka as far as I'm concerned - having annie ult or ridiculous zyra becomes amazing utility as game goes on.
If anyone would went to play this nerfed Soraka in high elo, they've would've given up on idea of trying to win an all-in before lvl7 (1q-4w-1e-1r). You have to survive whole another level (2 minion waves) if you want to win engage, all the while enemies trying to ult you. That becomes 3-4 minion waves to get from lvl5 to lvl7 since enemy is likely to push lvl6 before you and with soraka as your supp you can't do anything to stop it if your adc sucks. Lvl3 W with 5 sec CD is not enough, Lvl4 W with 3.5 sec cd is same as old Lvl2 W, and with some cdr from supp item (and cdr part of ardent censer) it becomes not as good as old one, but perhaps enough to win an all-in.
Another thing is, eye of the watchers for poke gold is not viable anymore in any scenario, and you're forced to go for ancient coin (eye of the oasis) because it gives you early CDR.
The nerf would be tolerable if soraka players were the only factor, but that's not the case. The other factor are ADCs in Soraka lane. There's a lot of talk in comments how strong Soraka's early is because she just stays back, but I find her early game the hardest part of game when solo queuing, i.e. it's hard to keep a fool alive. It's freaking ridiculous how many adc's get baited in lvl1 all-in, even in lvl1 vs lvl2 all-in, with absolutely 0 sec disengage and bait in order to wait for 4 sec W CD (compared to 10-15 sec CD of most enemy supports). There are no words for it. The worst part is they would get scared because of that and wouldn't engage during the whole laning phase afterwards even though they're in clear advantage with lvl3+ soraka (noQ-2W-1E/1Q-1W-1E). Some would not even poke at all, despite having a sustain supp which will keep you both at max hp all the time while taking chunks of enemy hp - sometimes I would end up having to sell all of my 3 cookies (potions) when laning phase ends.
As game goes to midgame it was easier to keep fools alive with 1.3 sec W CD (10% supp item CDR, 10% ardent censer CDR, 10% locket CDR), while in endgame you would be able to save even the biggest fool with 1.1 sec W CD (+10% CDR and 3000hp from warmog), or die having enemy sacrifice high dps hard engage champ, but even that can be avoided with exhaust+flash+E+locket (using rengar as example here, you would want E first for hard disengage heroes such as LB).
I can't even begin to fathom the extent of fails which will come with early game of new soraka in any elo that's not master or higher. Even in high elo, how will Soraka's adc be able to farm with enemy knowing W's CD? He can't just afk (8 seconds after 8 seconds after 6.5 sec after 6.5 sec after 5 sec after 5 sec) x 2/3/4 if enemy bot freezes lanes and looks hard for exchanges. In low elo they will get completely destroyed cause they will take dmg without making an exchange, every time or half the times. In low elo Soraka ADC's will snowball the enemy because, with everything else that's to their disadvantage, they will take vulnerable adc's not knowing Soraka (despite having the nerve to diss her).
So far, the only alternative to Soraka's sustain I've found is Lux. Already in midgame, with 40% sec CDR from Morell+Athene's grail she's able to shield her whole team for 400-500 dmg every 4 sec if she hits her E poke before casting her W shield. She's much better at zoning off enemies than Soraka (even though Soraka's 8 sec CD E silence at lvl5+45%CDR is a greater utility once everyone's engaged) and if enemy is not in great advantage, she can even solo defend tower by poking enemy adc with great dmg from E every 5 sec. 2 times is enough to repel ADC that has no lifesteal and then usually whole team backs off. In situation's where enemy has DOT such as Teemo, she's even better than Soraka because she doesn't have to lose her HP and risk her life by spamming W shield. The only problem is early game (lvl1 Q has 15 sec CD and is a skillshot, while leveling W first is same as forfeiting your lane), especially before first back, and of course your ADC who engages and gets pushed out of lane instead of letting you poke and zone with your amazing E.
so these nerfs really put her into the grave. instead of focusing on her W, the spam heal kind of identity she has, they need to make her want to go out for more Q's imho. That makes her more vulnerable to all ins.
