Some questions

I stopped playing all Mobas for a while. The people I played with just treated the game too competitively and it really took the fun out of the game. I love ranked, but every single loss just created 20 minutes of complaining why they lost their matchup because one character is better than the other. I stopped hanging out with those people.

But I started playing LoL when the spells were in a a circle instead of a line at the bottom left of the screen, and the UI was bigger than a WoW player that just discovered addons back in Vanilla. I love this game, and I'd like to get back into it, but if it's alright with some of you, I'd like to ask some questions.

1. What are some general rules I should know when coming back? Ward timers, other important timers, characters to stay away from, etc.

2. What are some good top/mid heroes that I can learn without having to worry about them being banned each draft match I play?

3. I live on the east coast, and I'm used to the 90-100 ping that I used to get on NA. Has there been anything done help out the east coast players? I mean with ms and such, playing characters like Riven was impossible as animation canceling just couldn't be done if you were on the east coast.

If you have anything else you'd like to tell me or add that you think would be useful information, please list it! I really do appreciate anything I can get here as I don't have any friends that still play LoL.