Seriously, what's the deal with sightstone and the support role?

IcyPepper··11 votes·4,547 views

Keep seeing complaints about the support role, but nobody seems to care about this item despite it being mandatory to the point where you can get reported for not buying it.

Put aside your bias for a moment and give it to me straight.

Why is this item mandatory for the support role?

Why is this item a healthy addition to the game?

Why doesn't any other role get nearly as much flak for their vision participation, such as buying tracker's knife or just other wards in general?

If the support role is complained about regarding autofill, "participation" and the like, how come sightstone isn't one of the focused discussions? Is it not considered a chore by most players, or does it provide interactive gameplay for the support players?

I'm willing to set aside my bias here to get educated on the matter, as I am frustrated and want some straight answers. If that means being schooled and realizing I'm wrong on several counts, so be it. I'd rather be wrong and corrected at this point than keep on as an asshole. But I ask the same of you, to not just flame me for questioning it, and just give me some straight answers.

Is sightstone a good, interactive, and healthy item for the support role and the game in general?

63 Comments

OverpoweredSoap16 votes

Yes.

Because before sightstone supports would have to sacrifice their build and buy like 10 wards just to keep the map lit up because vision is that important. This drastically limited their build and they ended up being behind a lot more often because they had to constantly buy singular wards multiple times.

Sightstone allows supports to be able to constantly ward the map and also have enough income to buy items they can use to support their team.

Supports get sightstone instead of any other role because the way their kits work (usually) allows them to be effective without items, so their build isn't as important as other roles, whose kits would vastly improve with items.

IcyPepper2 votes

Thank you for the thorough answer.

To elaborate on your points:

If sightstone was removed, but current ward caps remained, would the role be negatively impacted as a result?

OverpoweredSoap2 votes

{quoted}

Thank you for the thorough answer.

To elaborate on your points:

If sightstone was removed, but current ward caps remained, would the role be negatively impacted as a result?

No problem!

Depending on how long the match runs sightstone should always end up being more cost effective due to the fact it gives 3 wards every back.

Sightstone should most likely always be more cost effective, so removing sightstone would most likely have a negative impact on the support role.

IcyPepper2 votes

They'd be less effective in vision, but wouldn't they be on an even playing field with everyone else? That way, Riot would promote their gameplay, and remove warding as a chore? Does the burden of vision ward off players, particularly the ones who complain about autofill and the likes, or is this a phantom problem I've imagined and warding isn't as boring to the average player as I've assumed?

DrCyanide4 votes

I think it's a phantom problem.

Players in every role should be warding, right? So what's the problem with a Support placing a ward or two vs a Mid placing a ward or two? There isn't a difference most of the time, so if someone finds it a chore as a Support they'll find it a chore as a carry.

Finding it a chore instead of a strategic advantage to gain is a fault in those players.

IcyPepper2 votes

I'm hearing your points and I'm agreeing with most of them, but...

So what's the problem with a Support placing a ward or two vs a Mid placing a ward or two?

Are you telling me that there isn't more of a burden to ward on the support than the midlaner? I've seen board posts around here, there's a vocal crowd of people who've basically admitted "if the support doesn't buy a sightstone and relies on only trinkets, I'm going to report them." If the midlaner doesn't ward much, they don't get nearly as much flak because it's not as visible (no pun intended). It's that kind of thing that irritates me and spurned me to make this discussion in the first place.

Otherwise, I admit your points are fair and I feel a bit more content about the subject overall. Although I'd really like the burden of vision to be completely equally distributed, but that sounds more and more impossible as time goes on.

DrCyanide4 votes

I was talking for an individual warding mission.

Over the course of the entire game, yes, a support will be placing more wards due to sightstone, but a large part of that is them having wards available and not having to manage a minion wave and ward at the same time. Supports are naturally in a better position to ward more than the other roles because of those attributes. The basic principle still stands, it's no more a chore for a support than it is for a carry.

Honestly, I think the Support role would be about 20% duller if you took away the sightstone. You'd constantly be following teammates a teammate as they farm, just kinda hoping the enemy tries something so you can peel for that teammate... and that'd be it, that'd be your entire job for the entire game. You wouldn't be making these deep, risky invades into enemy territory to get vision down so your team knows where the enemy jungler is, you wouldn't have the information that an enemy is hiding in a bush to set up a pick, you'd just wait for someone to make a move out in the open. That, or you'd be relegated to being the ward, sitting in a bush and watching for someone to come past it before snaring them and running away. It sounds far more miserable than the current system.

IcyPepper5 votes

Oh, my bad for misunderstanding...

But...

reads the rest of your post

Well. Well then. That... really puts it into perspective. That sounds like a nightmare, rather. Is that how the game would turn if we just deleted sightstone? God, Teemo support would be meta with your last point, and that would be awful.

Alright, I accept your reasoning. I don't really like sightstone all that much, but if the alternative is that bad then I'll just suck it up and deal with it.

Häßlich2 votes

I want to point out that ward placement and timing are every bit as much a skill thing as managing a minion wave (entirely different skills set, but equally important). Placing them poorly is almost as bad as not placing them at all, and not knowing when to place them can get you (or your team) caught out, giving up free gold.

Also worth pointing out is that pink wards are amazing on a number of levels, and this is something everyone on the team should be doing:

  • Denies vision (obviously)
  • Grants vision (obviously)
  • Can bait enemies into poor positioning or bad priorities
  • Can counterplay certain champions/mechanics
  • Can last much longer than a standard ward if placed well enough, while still being useful for vision
  • Very cheap. Arguably the single most cost-efficient item in the whole game, considering the potential benefits

Warding should never be viewed as a chore just because it's necessary. Anyone who has played support in any serious capacity has learned one very simple rule that non-support players often take for granted:

Wards win games!

TheSnacken2 votes

I think, perhaps, that it isn't about the job being "boring" or "a chore", simply that it requires an extra facet of thought that many carry-mains would rather dedicate to memorizing enemy builds.

As a basic concept, I see support like this: A support's role is made difficult because their job is to keep track of many more pieces of information at any given time. Every player should be tracking things like vision, map movement, and kill orders. Supports have the additional burden of keeping everyone on-track in their own areas of expertise. Their abilities tend to be wide, and less particular about HOW they are used, which lets them deal with these larger-scale problems versus the attention to microplay ADC's, Assassins, etc. must pay.

So how does this tie in? The Sightstone is meant to be one of those "wide" tools. It's not potent, but useful nearly always. Having more vision is almost never a bad thing, and there's not a lot of room to ward "badly". As such, this falls under the existing skills and strengths a support player will be familiar with. If you were to give your typical LeBlanc player a sightstone, they might ward more, but more likely than not they'd sit very near three charges at all times. This is likely to hold true, even if you were to apply the sightstone ability to, say, Luden's Echo. The LeBlanc player is simply more focussed on their proper microplay-- Deleting squishies, not getting caught, etc-- than they would be on warding.

Does this difference become smaller as player quality goes up? Absolutely. A Diamond 1 player is likely to use that sightstone much more effectively than a Silver 3, regardless of role. But at a lower level, the level where people are learning roles, overarcing habits, and the like, the sightstone needs to be given to the players already alligned with that type of thinking.

. . . I think I might have lost some cohesion within my writing. Does that make sense? Basically, supports get the sightstone because they're already thinking about macroplay stuff, since basically their whole job is macroplay already.

IcyPepper2 votes

No, you're making sense. It's... not a point I can argue with, admittedly.

Is it a healthy burden, and do you feel it fits seamlessly with the rest of the support role and it's a positive contribution to the class as a whole?

TheSnacken1 votes

I think alternate versions of the Sightstone might be a little more fun to work with, if not necessarily an improvement to balance on their own. Perhaps an enchantment system, akin to the Jungle Items'? Perhaps one that gives you ms toward allies, or a slight buff based on # of allies nearby? I think those, as an alternative to the existing Ruby sightstone (maybe Sapphire and Emerald Sightstones?).

As for how appropriate the burden is, I think its fine. Its just that Support itself is very different from Top and Mid (the two most popular roles, and thus the most likely to be autofilled), and since it requires a very different set of skills which may or may not even be developed can prove to be incredibly frustrating for players who aren't familiar with it. That's what creates the dissatisfaction with the role, I think.

I suppose the Sightstone isn't really that different from Redemption or Locket of the Iron Solari, really. It fits with the support role and behaviors. Its just difficult to articulate the unique burdens that Supports carry to people who aren't closely familiar with the role. I think, really, what makes the support role so unsatisfying is how disconnected you feel from the rest of your team. At least, that's how I feel.

OverpoweredSoap2 votes

{quoted}

They'd be less effective in vision, but wouldn't they be on an even playing field with everyone else? That way, Riot would promote their gameplay, and remove warding as a chore? Does the burden of vision ward off players, particularly the ones who complain about autofill and the likes, or is this a phantom problem I've imagined and warding isn't as boring to the average player as I've assumed?

They'd be less effective in vision but technically still be at the same playing field they were before without sightstone (imo at least). The way most support kits work is that they don't need very many items to be effective (of course there are some exceptions like Sona for example who really likes items) so they have the option to invest their gold into wards.

Vision is definitely seen as a chore to the average player imo, I think a good amount of the average player realizes that warding is important, but it just simply lacks the excitement of say, engaging or kiting and doing damage or cc'ing the enemy. Warding to most is just boring so they don't feel the need to do it even though a lot of them know it changes games.

Warding and vision as a support also requires a different type of thinking/playstyle as well. Its something people have to adjust to but don't end up doing because that'd mean they'd have to play the support role more often.

IcyPepper2 votes

Considering the state of autofill among other things, support is generally viewed as the least popular role. Is the vision game, warding, and sightstone a negative component of this, or are the two completely unrelated and there is a completely different cause?

OverpoweredSoap1 votes

{quoted}

Considering the state of autofill among other things, support is generally viewed as the least popular role. Is the vision game, warding, and sightstone a negative component of this, or are the two completely unrelated and there is a completely different cause?

I'd say its a bit of both.

Support as a role in general (not just in League of Legends) has a very negative stigma attached to it because its often seen as a role where you're really dependent on your teammates' skill and that you can't really carry games by yourself (whether or not this is true).

Vision seems to be a bigger thing in LoL compared to other mobas so that means that the player's also going to have learn about warding as well while also trying to play a role that they most likely don't want to in the first place or that they don't like.

It could also be the fact the League tends to be a longer game that most other games as well, so that means they're stuck playing the support role for longer and they might feel like they're wasting their time.

Sire Hippington1 votes

I can't speak for all, but i myself and all of my lol playing friends actually enjoy playing support alot less since S6 because we no longer can provid as much vision on our own since greenwards have been removed, while trinkets and sightstone got nerfed. Atleast for us, takeing care of visioncontroll is part of the support role, and right now the tools for that are limited enough, especially since non supports also got restricted even more in how they can contribute to vision. Also, warding, atleast in high elos/coordinated play is a tream effort past laneing. The Support carries the wards, but he needs backup from his team to savely place them, and Junglers should contribute nealry as much. imo there is no excuse for a jungler to not take trackers, unless he gets a sightstone. The reason why exactly jungle and support have to provid vision, especially early on, is pretty easy: They have the spare time to do so. They don't need to Cs, they don't need to manage waves(well, sometimes they do) and in the case of the jungler, he roams around the map anyway, so he can ward the most imprtant places without really leaving his usual paths.

So no, warding isn't boring once you understand the strateic importance of it, and nerfing/removeing warding tools from supports(or anyone actually) would make the situation worse. One of the least fun things for me as support right now for example is not the fact that i have to get wardstone and ward, but that it only carries 3(4) wards and if i really want to provid proper vision, i have to frequently back with full health and mana just to fill up my wards, while befor S6 i could just get a stack of greenwards ontop of a better sightstone and be fine for a good while.

Sire Hippington2 votes

The game it self would be negatively impacted, as we have no other wards anymore, so the entier vision would come from trinkets, which could be fine if trinkets were buffed alot, but with the current tools, the map would just be damn dark on both sides.

And unless wards get their own slot(so other positions can use them) and a very low price, sightstone is always better for supports than haveing to buy single wards.

InTheory7 votes

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Chembaron Yamada2 votes

And that is definitely the mindset we need in that game. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Häßlich1 votes

Yeah, but... Feels so bad when I play as non-support in a game and put more wards down with just my trinket and pinks than the support does with his trinket and Sightstone--and that's all just from my normal warding habits, not even trying to "out-do" them in any capacity. I generally don't know this is going on until post-game, and it becomes so clear why a game was difficult (or lost).

InTheory2 votes

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BLACK REALM GOD1 votes

well there is the fact that sightstone wards are invisible and last 150 seconds as opposed to trinket wards which only last 60-120 seconds. in theory you SHOULD be placing more wards than your support.

InTheory1 votes

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BLACK REALM GOD1 votes

yeah, but 1 ward per 100 seconds is still faster than 4 wards per never.

with sightstone you wont receive wards without recalling and if for whatever reason you do place all 3 down you wont be placing any more until they're either removed or run out. so 150 seconds for 3 wards. and usually supports should try to ward river since that's where all of the back doors are. to walk to the top lane and back takes a minute or so unless you buy movement speed boots and those are usually 3rd on the list of items for the support.

if 100 seconds is the average that we choose to use then the warding totem provides 1/3 of the items at 2/3's the time.

can you think of a number that would allow a 1:1 ratio or better?

BLACK REALM GOD1 votes

wards placed =/= vision duration granted. since the sightstone has a longer lasting ward than the warding trinket you will place more wards even with less wards to place since only 3 can be placed at the same time. depending on how much your support recalls and the fact that your lane is pretty much all you ever ward if you're a mid or top laner.

the trinkets wards burn out 1.25x's faster than the sightstone and refills over time whereas sightstone only refills when visiting the shop.

if your support is laning away and only using their sightstone in pairs of 2 plus a warding trinket in lane then yes of course they'll ward more than you, but if they drop their warding totem off for a lens there's a chance that someone using a warding trinket could outward them.

RusselChambers1 votes

I is smart I is pretty I is important

GinoSoldier3 votes

After reading this entire thread and essentially agreeing with players who advocate for the Sightstone in the context of the current warding meta, i still want to raise a point, because i'm idealistic and like to push my ideas.

I believe the trinket system should cover the entire vision game within league of legends, for all players on an equal level. Give each player one Warding trinket, and one anti-Warding trinket. Balance each in the idea that everyone should ward, but too much vision is bad while it should also not be too easily countered. As a result, remove Sightstone from the game, and possibly the ability to buy red wards if judged necessary.

It removes the burden from supports of buying an item that often gives little to nothing to the player in the manner of enhancing his champion (The recurring '800 gold for 150 hp on a mage, why?' Argument.) while removing the stigma that supports MUST be the ones who ward. They still can and would still be the best for the job due to how they function, and assuming they can't because they're short on active trinkets, they can call on their team to do it for them when they aren't as busy.

I abhor the idea of a single 'must have' item for any class. I'm happy that now ADCs usually get to choose between Arpen and crit, i like that mages can go tankier with utility or complete burst. But right now, Supports have a bit of an identity crisis because while they have the most diverse champion pool for their role, almost every single one is essentially expected to get the same three items. Sightstone, Redemption, Locket. Every game, almost regardless of who the support champion is. (exceptions usually being Sona and mage supports because they actually scale better with AP.) I believe items should enhance the player's kits through scaling, not standardize them. Supports are by far the most plagued by this, and to me, sightstone is part of the problem.

I'd push farther and say that i feel somehow (i realize how complicated that would be to do on the rift) that supports should have equal income with other players, and their item's costs and power be adapted to reflect it, but one point at a time yes?

Dominick Destine2 votes

Seriously what's the deal with carpools?

They're not cars. And they're not pools!

/Seinfeld theme

Nielarken2 votes

Sight stone is a damage/defence loss that builds into nothing but more hp. It's cheap and give support that extra few seconds of life to work with along with extra vision. Also support starting items can now be combined with it.

Leaf on Bush2 votes

As somebody who plays a lot of Soraka support, I especially dislike the bonus health. It's not fair, that a Braum support even gets more damage and tankiness from item 2049 while Soraka just struggles to heal the health she spend and gets tankiness that is much less important for her. Unless you need the wards so badly, you might as well come back without shopping and be more efficient. Why not slap some armor/mr on it? Screw health.

ZephyrDrake1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cancer Cavalier ,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Zp97hsaX,comment-id=0011,timestamp=2017-03-27T19:14:20.736+0000)

As somebody who plays a lot of Soraka support, I especially dislike the bonus health. It's not fair, that a Braum support even gets more damage and tankiness from item 2049 while Soraka just struggles to heal the health she spend and gets tankiness that is much less important for her. Unless you need the wards so badly, you might as well come back without shopping and be more efficient. Why not slap some armor/mr on it? Screw health.

sorry but what? HP let's you survive against all forms of damage and not just one. Also there are multiple routes for you to take Sightstone and it is never more efficient to comeback with less stats than your counterpart. That's like saying "man item 1018 is such a terrible buy i don't get any damage i might as well just save until i can finish my item 3031 that'll be more efficient!"

There is never a time where wards aren't needed and HP is never a wasted stat, not even on Soraka. If you really dislike Sightstone that much why don't you first get the first upgrade of your gold item before buying it? that way you get some stats you find useful at the cost of not having enough wards to protect you against a possible jungle/mid gank.

Leaf on Bush2 votes

You don't seem to understand anything and especially not how Soraka works or why do you make such a generic reply that totally misses the point?

ZephyrDrake1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cancer Cavalier ,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Zp97hsaX,comment-id=001100000000,timestamp=2017-03-27T20:37:51.340+0000)

You don't seem to understand anything and especially not how Soraka works or why do you make such a generic reply that totally misses the point?

the point being what? that you feel entitled to build something else on soraka just because Braum of all supports gets more benefit from it? HP is never a wasted stat no matter how hard you want to think it is. Even Soraka wants some extra HP even with her % max HP costs

Acheron162 votes

Make it so that Sightstone ocupies the trinket slot and make it recharge like normal yellow trinkets.

I fixed supports, no need to thank me.

AlienPrimate1 votes

A support not building sightstone would be equivalent to an ADC or assassin not building AD items or a tank going full damage. I guarantee that as soon as you see top lane Malphite item 3001 item 3157 item 3020 item 3089 item 3027 item 3151 people will be criticizing his build. Even though it works to some degree, building any champion without their core build is more often going to result in a loss than building normally.

IcyPepper2 votes

But sightstone doesn't amplify or meaningfully interact with a support's kit, it's just a utility item they build because they can afford to.

I don't think it'd be like building a specific stat on a champion, but more like building certain items over others for their passives: I think a better comparison would be building item 3036 when you're going against a healing-based team composition. You technically can, but the damage amp isn't as great as the enemy healing reduction that benefits your entire team.

Häßlich2 votes

The real reason I why I don't believe there is ANY valid excuse for a support to not build it is because every support has a Sightstone item that is good for them at an efficient price.

item 2303 - Tanks (Braum, Leona, Thresh, Taric, Tahm Kench, etc) item 2301 - Mage/Damage-based supports (Karma, Lux, Morganna, Zyra, etc) item 2302 - Admittedly the weakest of these, but still great for pure utility supports (Janna, Soraka, Nami, Bard, etc). In many cases, I'd take EoW over this, but it has its place.

ZapMyHeart1 votes

{quoted}

The real reason I why I don't believe there is ANY valid excuse for a support to not build it is because every support has a Sightstone item that is good for them at an efficient price.

item 2303 - Tanks (Braum, Leona, Thresh, Taric, Tahm Kench, etc) item 2301 - Mage/Damage-based supports (Karma, Lux, Morganna, Zyra, etc) item 2302 - Admittedly the weakest of these, but still great for pure utility supports (Janna, Soraka, Nami, Bard, etc). In many cases, I'd take EoW over this, but it has its place.

Eh, the price may be decent, but it still takes up a slot for purely warding purposes. The upgrades are okay with good stats, but I don't find it particularly enticing to build into them, when I am better off using gold to get a Locket or Redemption. These build paths does nothing to make the support role more interactive, as it remains a 'warding' item. If it upgraded to something with an additional passive that gives something more 'tangible' to the team itself (rather than extra gold to the support), it would be a more attractive pick.

Häßlich2 votes

Slot efficiency is only that important at the very end game, and selling the sightstone item for a full item as your last item is different than skipping it entirely--which you should never do, because it puts the rest of your team at such a huge disadvantage that getting reported for "INTing" is barely a stretch. At the very least, cough up the 800 for regular Sightstone (which has a little hp anyway), and don't finish it. Build whatever else you want after that.

However, the main support starting items all build into "Eye of... something" and that includes Sightstone in the build path, which is extremely efficient. Locket and Redemption aren't the actual choices when comparing "Eye of..." to other support items. The real trade-off is vs:

item 3401 item 3092 item 3069

I won't pretend for a second that the Eye items can compete with those in general utility, but it comes at the cost of absolutely dog shit slot efficiency, and being stuck with only one (really bad) upgrade for Sightstone itself. Perhaps that's where they could look if they want to encourage more Sightstone use (than they already have), and offer something people might actually want with that item slot--especially considering how mandatory it is for the role.

It's one thing to have to give up an item slot to a warding item, it's another when your starting support item's final version takes yet another slot. I think a better alternative would be do move Sightstone into a build path for a new type of boot upgrade that gives Tier 2 movespeed (on par with Sorc Shoes, Zerk Greaves, Tabi, Merc Treads, etc) and have that take up your warding slot too. Then there might be an interesting trade-off between going for:

  • one of the Eye items (for slot efficiency) + current boot upgrades (better upgrades) or
  • the warding boots + final support item (for extra utility)

Even if non-supports build the Sightstone boot upgrade, that comes at the cost of some of their combat effectiveness, and I certainly wouldn't complain about my team warding more in any case. ; )

meowwow71 votes

i use ruby sightstone since i have alot of active items whenever i go support but that's just me wanting to use the actives alot more and look kinda pro :3

KoggyStyle1 votes

imma say this one more time, gnar loves sweeper and SS.

The Yetii Rider1 votes

With the addition of the Blackout ability, wards aren't even that effective as vision against certain team comps. And buying SS against Evelyn, Rengar or Twitch feels terrible.

The Sword Saint1 votes

Warding is a strategic option that supports are in the fortunate position to be able to use more than other roles without hurting their ability to use their champion kits. A carry or a tank who buys a sightstone is likely to lose close fights due to lack of proper stats, a support is more relying on their utility and positioning in the first place so can better get away with having a sightstone.

Having played since season 2, I can tell you that when sightstone was added to the game support players everywhere fell to their knees and rejoiced.

Shonicss41 votes

What about support tanks?

The Sword Saint1 votes

What about support tanks?

agbudar1 votes

the alternative where you just buy loose wards is way, way waaaaay worse.

season 1 and 2 were HORRIBLE for support players HORRIBLE.

basically what it came down to is that you were the designated ward bot that meant no items for you if you took that to heart

il repeat NO FUKKING ITEMS. except for gold items such as heart of gold or that blue dagger thingy. (which had no stats worth mentioning)

i saw supports blow 2 k gold on things like clairvoyant potion (400 g a piece) just to clear enemy wards i saw supports having 10 wards 75 g each and be proud about it.

all the while of having no items, and people tried to convince me and other support players that we didn't need items and would report us if we did buy items besides the gold gain items that were "allowed" ow yea and you were not allowed to take any cs either. ADC make you their bitch. THEIR BITCH THAT THEY RAPED OVER AND OVER. the role was something of a sadistic twisted fukfest for people that loved to hurt themselves. not to mention that if you had vision control you could basically deny the enemy team of ALL farm and ALL objectives.

so on the one hand you had a super crucial aspect of the game raping 1 person per team. that on the other hand made games super onesided to the team that was winning.

it was super cancerous as far as game health goes. then came season 3 and we got sightstone with a ward limit

now sightstone was not the biggest fix it was the ward limit that was the fix.

Ultra Rapid Fyre1 votes

Sightstone is needed for one simple reason

Its in the game so supports can change their trinkets to item 3364 & item 3341 and DEWARD. A supports secondary goal is vision CONTROL of the map, which means not just getting allies vision, but removing enemy vision.

LawUrDepravdHart1 votes

Sightstone is a healthy addition to the game because it eases the burden on the support, who is expected to contribute the most to the vision game. If there was no sightstone then they would be expected to buy and place an equal number of wards on an individual basis. The item costs 800 gold. If you place at least 11 wards at 75 gold each then it pays off.

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