So first off - I feel like there is some truth to your words and players tend to think the past is better than the present in almost all things. But I hardly think there was ever a player who thinks there was a specific time when league was 'perfect'. I think most players complain about very specific things that have spun out of control on the balance front over the years. I'll list them for you below, and you already know what they are because EVERYONE currently knows what they are.
**1.) One player can lose you the game, but one player cannot carry the game. **
Basically the concept that over the last few seasons, league has become more 'team-focused' and 'team-driven' game. A lot of changes have made it MUCH harder to solo-carry come late game. This is said and believed at almost every tier of play, even the very top. Riot needs to find a better way to reward skill in games.
**2.) Game length has become too short - Things are too snowbally **
There are lots of data points showing how the game has just gotten shorter and shorter. While I personally do not mind the length of games, It IS something that has changed over time, and I can easily see how that feeds into the snowbally meta we're currently in. The time to recover a game and the TOOLS to recover a game have been diminished greatly over the last 2 seasons, and it shows.
3.) Botlane meta
Now, I'm a support main so I generally don't mind the botlane being the focus of games, but supports have changed SO MUCH over the last few seasons, it's like a completely different class. This has given them substantial power in leagues lifespan and led to some interesting new problems. One is that Supports just have more agency in the game. This means botlane has a bigger focus on who can win than before. So I can definitely understand why a top laner would HATE that change. As a support, I can fuck a tops life up if I get even 1 or 2 kills. You go back 2 seasons, No fucking way. I had to run. And that leads me to my next point...
4.) ADCs being unkillable / Burst being survivable for squishies
When supports are played at a high level, they can make a carry straight up unkillable. This has led to many players thinking ADCS need to be dumpstered, and while I think the other roles need to be given more agency come late game, I don't think its the right move to nerf ADCs completely. But my point is that if you go back 2 seasons, Supports didn't have the tools to stop all-in burst playmaking. They ABSOLUTELY do now, and that has created some really shitty balancing scenarios. I think the solution here is (as I said above) mages / tops / jungles need to have more power come late game, across the board.
I could honestly go on, but I won't - Towers are another point, mobility creep is another, you have pro-play impacting balance more, Runes Reforged is worth a mention, and though this one isn't talked about so much, I think its a huge problem league has right now: Crowd Control creep. Because ADCS can't be all in'd .. the biggest value you can bring then becomes the ability to control them long enough to blow through the healing, so CC is arguably one of the strongest tools in the game right now. It wasn't 2 seasons ago.
