What the **** is this 
% heal and shield power about?
Whose idea was this, and what is the reasoning behind it. I remember the good old days when I could just build AP to increase my heals and shields, so what happened to that?
I've been playing support for a LONG time, and this is one of the LAST things I would have asked for, so can someone please tell me why?
+1 I don't like some of these items nowadays either
Generally speaking, these items came about as part of a Support Class update to help Support players have more Agency and Power in both the teamfight and/or laning phases of the game.
It all started with AP casters coming down to dominate the support lanes. Poke and damage tended to outscale supports healing and shield potential, and in many cases it even let supports start to carry games.
This is still in full swing, to be honest - You still see a TON of casters down bot. Even the latest Mao trend is right up that pathway.
In order for some of the more traditional supports to not fall behind, Riot introduced some new Support mainstay items to make 'shielding' and 'healing' be a bit more impactful.
Frankly, I'm not really much of a fan. It feels like a bandaid fix to a bigger problem.
What the **** is this
Whose idea was this, and what is the reasoning behind it. I remember the good old days when I could just build AP to increase my heals and shields, so what happened to that?
I've been playing support for a LONG time, and this is one of the LAST things I would have asked for, so can someone please tell me why?
they made those as support specific items, because mages used to make a lot of use of support items in the past which in turn got nerfed as a result.
