The idea of having different SightStones that do different and cool things is fine... it's not a new idea (its the reason we have the 'EyeStones' - because Riot heard players demanding cool variant SightStones.
But changing SS without changing the functionality of wards doesn't make the support role / vision game / stealth game any more interesting or interactive. And no one is asking about giving wards varied / alternate functions, so the info war stays stagnant and Riot wonders why more people don't like the support role.
Try to follow me on this:
The way wards grant vision is detrimental to the vision game, because players don't have access to how wards grant information. If I'm roaming and I pass over a ward, I have no idea I've done so beyond reading the enemy's movements (assuming they're even visible). This means it's very difficult to play stealthily, as to play stealthily I need information, which wards don't provide inherently.
Even if I see you place a ward, once it turns invisible I can't interact with it unless I have a specific counter-item. This makes it very difficult for players to tune into the vision game - wards grant sight but 2 of the 4 ward constructs are invisible by default, and the other 2 can become invisible by being placed in brush, and none of them telegraph their presence to me besides the Control Ward, and only then if I have put a ward into it's range for it to disable.
Wards granting vision in the way that they do is not very appreciable, as none of their forms of vision are really unique. They all light up the map in the same way.
The implication:
If different ward constructs telegraphed their presence, they could be played around without needing a specific counter-item. This is actual stealth gameplay. If wards had different fields of sight, maybe a cone here, a literal line-of-sight there, then wards could potentially 'miss' enemy champions. If wards can 'miss' enemy champions, they can afford to be more powerful in the way their vision is expressed - larger AoEs, longer durations, effects like TS and other forms of invis detection. If wards can be played around, if they can 'miss', if they are fallible, then they can afford to be FREE. And at the same time, vision becomes easier to appreciate, as players of all skill levels (but especially lower skill levels) become aware of how wards operate, how they cover space, how they control an area and in what ways they're doing all of those things. It also means that ganking becomes very skill intensive, as players have to navigate the enemy's ward defenses, dodging and weaving their way thru the various vision cones and skirting lines of sight - whereas now it's: '1) approach for a gank --> are they running away? OK, it's warded, I'll come back later / use Sweeper or Scryer Bloom or Control Ward and then come back later. 2) approach for a gank --> OK, they don't know I'm here, GOGOGOGO, successful gank resulting in Summoner Spell uses or their deaths.'
Does that make sense?
+
= ruby sightstone (for bruisers and maybe ADCs)
= sapphire sightstone (for mages and mage-supports)
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= emerald sightstone (for supports who don't want to make an eye-stone)
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= diamond sighstone (for tanks)
= pearl sighstone (for champs who mix casting with AAs for burst)
