Can we talk about Shen? Rioters and Summoners welcome!

So, first off I'd like to say hello everyone! I don't believe I've ever posted my own thread here on the forums and usually I try to stay away from forums because they tend to be kind of toxic but my boy Shen here has motivated me to speak up! So, let's jump to it.

I don't really think Shen is a 'hated' champion by Riot but I feel like they want to keep him more lackluster because if they buff him, he'll be too 'OP'.. kind of like a Kalista thing but I only see this being abused to that extent in professional play. Does the majority have to suffer for eSports? Now, I hope I don't offend anyone but lemme just.. kind of state what I'm trying to get here.

Since his recent nerf a few patches ago, it kind of took away the 'love' I had for playing Shen. His ult feels so underwhelming now, every time I use the damn thing it doesn't even remotely matter, they just end up dying before I get there and I know, I know. 'trash shen, learn2play, gg scrub, can you get out of gold?'

I kind of already see those comments coming and I doubt stating I'm level 7 with Shen will do much good but I do have over a 150k champion points with him so I do have some experience to talk here. I really don't care as much for new Shens kit as I did the old one, I think a lot of us feel that way but I still learned to enjoy it regardless.. It took awhile but I finally got there because I -LOVE- the play style of Shen so much. I cannot express enough how much his play style suits me.

I love being able to help my team whether it be for an aggressive ult play or a defensive one. I loved the diversity of that opportunity and I truly felt like his kit wasn't OP at all but yet.. we nerf him into the gutter.

So, enough with the filler garbage let me get to the real point I'm trying to make.

I don't think Riot hates Shen visually but I don't think they want him around either. I feel like they think of him as a mistake and will do anything to remove him from the spotlight, as it stands right now from what I've read, it looks like it's been 5+ years since my dude got a skin, meanwhile, we got Ezreal coming out with another skin and Yasuo just got a new one as well. How many times are we gonna see the same champions get new skins while abuse the older ones? I know this argument has been said and done a thousand times but over 5 years? Doesn't Yorick, Shen and Urgot deserve a little bit of love too? I mean, cmon guys this is ridiculous.. But I guess next patch we'll just have to make an arcade Kha'Zix skin because god knows we all love playing Kha'Zix and 50 skins for him aren't clearly enough.

And fuck I know I'm going to get so much hate for this but isn't it possible to tweak professional games like Worlds / LCS under a special category so these nerfs will stay in pro play but outside of pro play in regular games such as draft/blind/ranked these nerfs won't be in effect? Because they've acknowledged they nerfed Shen for pro play, I guess they got tired of seeing him there but arent there also a few others who tend to be frequent picks just like Shen in LCS / Worlds? For example, Lee Sin and Elise

I don't mean to sound like a 'cry baby' fan boy for Shen but I just don't find it fair to gutter his ult the way they did. If they want to keep the ult the way it is and not allow for it to be used as much as an engage and therefor making it more of a 'lifesaving ult' then keep the way it is but at the very least give us a MUCH bigger boost on the shield so our target can ACTUALLY have a chance at surviving.

Melledoneus in a previous post stated this and I couldn't agree more:

Stand United (R) : Base shield value lowered from 250/550/850 to 175/350/525 [new] Shield now scales up based on missing health of target, up to 160% of base Value (280/560/840). [Meddler noted this value is comparable to live at 40% allied health.] Cooldown increased from 180/150/120 to 200/180/160

Melledoneus: Now, I don't understand these changes. Yes, we get less shield for more allied health, that I am ok with. What I am not fine with is the fact that we not only get the same shield for delaying our ultimate just to hit the sweet spot for a maximum shield (which in turn increases the chances of our ally dying before we arrive) but we even get a smaller shield at level 16 even at the maximum. The least Riot could have done is make the shield bigger to balance it out, but now the ability has become counter-intuitive.

I know I'm probably going to get hit with some backlash here but this is my opinion and I hope you guys will debate with me should you disagree rather than calling me a cancerous idiot. I welcome such discussions and perhaps if you disagree with me and speak your side in a logical and respectful way then perhaps I can see your point of view.

Now if a Rioter does come across this post, my one question for you is.. Do you have any plans for Shen or are you happy with how he is? I'd like to take this question to the people reading the post as well and ask.. Are you happy with Shen as the way he is now or do you sort of see my point I'm trying to make?

TLDR: I wish Shen would get some love like others and not have to be nerfed for pro play when that's about less than 1% of the LoL population against the other 99 and by love I mean at least skins or merch, dear god, they don't even have official merch for the bastard and he's been in League for years