Support Discussion: in which we discuss reward consistently good playing and Tank class scalings.

Hello, lovely people. After letting out of my system the accumulated toxicity of several games of League as support, it's time to be constructive again and start another educated discussion on the least popular role in league, according to matchmaking, queue times, and anyone with an ounce of sense. I want to stress that this talk will be about the fun of the class, rather than efficiency or importance.

Now, I've already discussed about supports in topics such as this, this and this, but it's a little hard to get a discussion going unless I start a rant-bait. But in the spirit of not being an absolute piece of shit, I'll give another shot to briefly discuss the support role current standing, especially for tank supports, stressing the importance of preseason changes.

The points I want to make are the following.

1. #League should reward players able to play consistently well regardless of role.
2. #Tank Supports aren't supposed to scale as well as item reliant champions.
3. #Tank Supports, like supports in general, should still be allowed to scale.

Let's start from point 1, and why League should reward players who consistently play well. Now, this is something that a lot of players take for granted. Good cs, a good kill score and kill partecipation, level advantage, are all things that translate into a stronger presence through the game, wether it is in the form of being more durable when taking towers, dealing more damage with attack and abilities, or granting allies stronger heal and shields.
However, for certain champions this "reward" is lower than for others. And, in my opinion, while supports are supposed to get a minor reward compared to others (more on why this is actually a good thing later), a certain subclass of support has it definitely worse. In particular, I am talking about supports such as Braum, Leona, Thresh, Tahm Kench and Alistair, with the last 2 having it a little easier, comparatively but still quite rough. In particular, the problem with these champions is that it's really hard to appreciate a solid performance early game through champion growth. Spells deal little damage, scale little in CC, and have usually small ratios. For example, Braum has a 2,5% Max health ratio on Q, no ratio on passive, 0.6 AP Ratio on ultimate. Of course, champions like Braum and Leona aren't supposed to do damage, they are supposed to be built tanky. However, the fact that spells also don't increase in power that much, together with the fact that as a tank support you are forced into buying certain cheap but effective items like , Locket , and Fotm, you don't actually that tankier, and, more important, the game doesn't convey a sense of rewarding consistent play as for other roles. Let me make an example with 2 of the tank supports I believe have satisfying design: Tahm Kench and Taric.
Both of these champions are actually rewarded more when playing well, because, given the nature of their kit, they get to translate a good performance early game into a solid presence in the midgame. For example, thanks to Acquired Taste and Bravado, when Tahm Kench and Taric are able to stay longer in the fight that also means they have an increased effect in the teamfight. Let's compare that to Leona and Braum: after those two have placed their cc spells, they have to painfully wait for them to get off CD before being effectively contributing to their team again. With patch 6.14, Leona got a small update where they moved damage from his core spells to his ultimate with a passive effect that added range, on hit damage and Sunlight to his attacks after casting Solar Flare, but it still offers little damage and it's offset by the nerf on all her damage spells. At this point, it would make more sense to have this as a damage buff like Tahm Kench that is always on (except for the Range and applying Sunlight), or have a cdr effect like Bravado. I don't even want to force suggestions of what those champions are supposed to do, even if it's clear which champions is supposed to play more like a defender and which as a fighter, but I want to state that, when players are able to perform well in lane, they should be able to build up from their advantage and continue from there, regardless of their role. This doesn't necessarily means that they have to come back with a BF sword if they get 1300 gold, but they also shouldn't be shoehorned into SS+FotM because they have no other gold-efficient buying option, unless, of course, they aren't like Tahm Kench that actually scales better with health thanks to passive and E. In short, regardless of role, players should be personally rewarded for playing well, and not only through their team.

Let's move to number 2, where I want to discuss itemization, why supports aren't meant to scale that well, why supports are still meant to scale, and why 800 gold for sightstone is an unjust tax on the poorest team member.
So, of course we are all aware of support items and why they are supposed to feel a little lackluster: in order to prevent other laners to buy it if they become too strong/effective, and because, being cheap, they need to be balanced around a minor payoff when they are completed. Easier to complete: Weaker effect.
Now, this is actually really fair, but it adds up to other circumstances unique to support. For a start, with the Coin line being really weak, and Spellthief almost useless by non-mages (hey, I'd love the Ghost active as Leona, but I'm not going to getting those Tribute stack that often), they are forced with Relic Shield. Now, the shield is actually good, no question asked, altough the active is a bit weak (thank god we are getting double effect next season) and the other form is built by Sightstone. Now, are supports meant to be built as second class toplaners? That's certainly the way in other MOBA, but I'd argue that League has a more refined direction that could be improved. A support of course has an unique role advantage over laners: they are not so reliant on farming. While they need the gold, and they will get significantly less, they also don't have to farm, and their entire kit is usually designed around that. That's why usually, even supports who are useful in lategame, aren't picked for solo lanes as the gold they earn wouldn't scale as well.
However, supports still earn gold, and I think at the moment they don't really have compelling choices. You basically pick whatever will keep you alive for more time. Sure, in some cases a Crucible will be picked to counter hard CC, but that's it.
I wrote a post about an offensive support item for melee, but that's not really the point of this paragraph. The point about support items is that they aren't that different, they offer relatively weak effects as they are cheap, and in most cases you don't even get the full effect: for example, I almost never used the slow from Face of the Mountain, or the whole effect from Locket, unless I reacted to an AoE mage spell on all 5 of us. Pretty rare. Frozen Heart is an aura, but it's quite rare to face a team with more than 2 autoattack reliant champions. So, as a gold starved player you are forced with items that are rarely used for their full potential, and, to top it off, Sightstone, altough favoring tanks over regular supports, still creates a setback in stat between them and other champions.
Oh, and the main stat for supports, Cooldown reduction, will also be more rare by next patch, disappearing from Locket, together with Health. Still, as supports are also the role that should focus on supporting, I can understand why Riot wants to avoid to mingle their itemization with that of top lane tanks or fighters. Tank Supports shouldn't be tuned around trying to close the gap with toplaners, because then we will only shift the problem around from lack of scaling to lack of gold, OR we would have to overbuff them, letting them dominate jungle and toplane (I read a lot that Rioter fear a viable Leana jungler, and I have to agree). But, in the next point, let's examine why supports are still meant to be a nuisance midfight, even if not as pure fighters, and some possible solutions.

I tried to explain why Tank in the support role aren't rewarded much for a good performance, but also why they shouldn't be aimed toward "second rate toplaners". I'm sure that a lot of the smart guys thought "but KD, Lux and Zyra aren't bad supports and they do play as second AP Mages, how are tanky champions like Leona that different". And of course, that's a valid point. Support Mages do scale quite well and live up to their fantasies, and playing a good early game as Lux or Zyra means transitioning in a strong control mage from the midgame. But where is the difference then? The difference, of course, are in the scalings and itemization. AP Support items are quite numerous, and they also are quite different, letting you adapt to different situations, and increase in power as a mage without neglecting your role as a support. If you look at Lulu's most picked items, you will see Zeke's, Locket, FrostQueen, etc. Zyra usually turns into a full mage, while keeping her role as a control mage and peeling from afar. On the other hand, with the rare Poppy and Sion, tanks can't live on the support modest budget because their effectiveness relies on being in the battle, that requires a lot of health and resources. So, sticking to what's in game, and what currently works well, we can make some assumption on how to spice up Tanks. We know that: -Mage Support work well because they can do their things without tanking damage, thus don't suffer as much even when lagging behind.
-currently working Tank supports like Taric and Tahm Kench have mechanics that involve them staying in the fray.
-the rare strand fighter ending botlane, like Sion, usually have high flat damage and poor scaling, neglected in favor of health and sustain.
With these assumptions, we can think of what could allow Tanks to feel more rewarded without making them overpowered, but letting them scale.
In short, those changes should be aimed to a broader itemization with more specific items in place of the generic we have now (saw some good examples in preseason), more interactive kits that allow those champions to keep purpose while stalling for cd, and in general either flat tankyness or damage when playing correctly in their specific niche. For specific examples, I'll follow up in comments, while leaving this body as the "core" of the discussion.