You want to know why the game feels more frustrating every year? Because it's getting easier.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that we're seeing more and more changes directed toward newer and generally less skilled players. As someone who has been around since Season 2, I can attest to the fact that this game was absolutely horrendous for new and unskilled players seven years ago.
1.) Champions geared toward new and unskilled players are becoming more reliable into higher levels of play. In 2013, you weren't going to see Garen in a platinum+ game, and if you did, his obvious and easily exploitable weaknesses would turn him into a joke once lane phase ended. His rework and additional buffs aimed to bring him some success in higher ranks and, unfortunately, they succeeded. Champions like Shyvana can also be abused to make up for potentially massive skill gaps just by the merit if her absolutely disgusting and embarrassing state at the moment.
2.) Information is now more easily obtained. Anyone who was relatively new during Season 3 and didn't watch professional play would have had the misfortune of one day running into AP Tryndamere and having no idea what it was or why it worked. The same goes for Kha'Zix mid in 2012/13. When these things emerged, they spread much more slowly. Twitch was in its infancy and Probuilds was unheard of. If you cared about learning to play, you hopped on Mobafire (or on Solomid and laughed at people who used Mobafire) and got to work reading. Bronzes didn't know who was pick/ban worthy. They banned Bronzodia every game and were none the wiser. Now everyone from the bottom to the top is in their own fantasy wannabe LCS.
3.) Innovation is allowed... sort of. Back in the day, everyone thought they were doing it right. You'd see guys without flash, guys with scrap book rune pages, and guys who thought having your Zac run into the enemy team at level one so you could all teleport to his blobs was a good idea. Most of these strategies were trash, but some of them were viable. Nowadays, with modern items and runes, the build paths are so straightforward and black and white that it's hard to scrape by with anything but the #1. Yeah sure, you COULD have run Dark Harvest Jhin, but you'd just be straight up worse than Hail of Blades Jhin was. This is ironic as new runes were supposed to add more variety to gameplay. Most of them, however, just synergize too well with one kit or another.
4.) Support is out of control. Back before all the support gold income options were introduced, the role sucked, but it was balanced. That's the truth. In an effort to make support more appealing, champions like Thresh were created. Thresh, as he has for most of the past six years since his release, is the highest playrate champion in the game. Why? Because he's fun. Why? Because he's overloaded. Sorry, truth hurts. Now, as much of a problem as Thresh, there is another, more asinine support. Pyke. Had you told someone in Season 3 that you had inside information on a support assassin with an AOE Darius ult on a true reset, they'd have laughed at you. Why? Because that would have been stupid. And it is stupid. This combined with gold items that have been so out of hand that, recently, they were being run in solo lanes so lanes DIDN'T HAVE TO FARM is absurd and should he ground for a massive role-wide rework.
There isn't a whole lot that can be done about lower ranked players mimicking their favourite steamers and professionals, but the rest of these things can be changed. Every champion does not have to be viable at every level of play. Or at least not consistantly. Back then, being a Diamond Garen meant something. It was crazy. Shyvana shouldn't be clearing the jungle so fast that she's a nuisance to players three leagues above her. No champion should be so accessible that anyone can pick them up and do well, while also being so powerful that they can be played at a high level.
The truth is that the more balance caters to the unskilled demographic, the more the rest of us suffer.
