Perhaps giving us some reason to buy 
over 
?
The activated items not only give better stats, the same amount of gold, but give very good activate abilities.
Something like making eye items grant more gold over time, making them give better stats, increase warding range, etc.?
Abyssphere3 votesYou're not taking into account the 1k gold you save by not having to upgrade to Ruby Sightstone.
I don't think it's worth buying Eye of the Watchers/Oasis because the actives on the mage support items are just too crucial to miss out on, but Eye of The Equinox looks like a totally viable alternative to FotM.
Sire Hippington2 votesthey theoretically free up an inventory space, which translates to more stats and/or another active item. However, with how short games are in average, the aditional item-slot rarly is relevant, so these items rarly are a reasonable purchase these days.
Hyrum Graff2 votesThe advantage of the EYE items is you don't need a seperate slot for SS and your gold gen item.
So if you want to go full AP brand support, you can do this:
instead of this:
is already a viable alternative to .
is slightly sub-par, but only because the whole reason people buy ancient coin it the first place is because they want the active. If you didn't want the active you'd go for one of the other support items.
is a bad choice right now. That's because FQC is really OP at the moment. to the point where it's being picked up a lot on mid laners. Once that item gets nerfed, I suspect eye of the watchers will become a better choice.
Nekusen1 votes[{quoted}](name=Hyrum Graff,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=sypaQ9AA,comment-id=0007,timestamp=2015-12-10T06:28:38.450+0000)
The advantage of the EYE items is you don't need a seperate slot for SS and your gold gen item.
as said here, games now are usually too short to make an extra space relevant, people don't get to full build, even less supports that don't cs nor take kills.
Hyrum Graff2 votesas said here, games now are usually too short to make an extra space relevant, people don't get to full build, even less supports that don't cs nor take kills.
More realistic midgame example:
vs
Honestly, though, that example is beside the point. Eye items exist to solve a problem: One of the support's item slots being dedicated to a combat-inefficient item (sightstone).
Right now that problem doesn't exist in the first place because games are so short, so it seems like EYE items don't have a reason to be picked. Well, you're right. Right now, they don't. It doesn't mean that they never will.
It's like, in a squishy meta, not many champs pick up BoRK because it's not a good purchase. That doesn't make BoRK a useless item, it means the meta doesn't favor it.
GinoSoldier1 votesAs much as i agree they aren't strong, they aren't meant to be. Basically you're now given the choice of either using two item slots for stronger effects or one to save space for something else. Saving one slot instead of buying SS+GP5 can be the difference for that one extra armor item you'll need.
Jungle Lux God1 votesThe advantage of the Eyestones is that they are much more slot efficient than the sightstone and the gold items.
Sightstone and your active items give better stats, but the eyestones give you a slot to buy other items that have different relevancy in the game without sacrificing your gold gen or your warding active.
Eye of the Watchers vs Sighstone and Frost Queen's Claim is arguably the best comparison to look at. Sighstone gives you your warding active, and then Frost Queen's Claim gives better stats than EotW, but say you want to go for a heavier AP build in the support role. You combine your sighstone and your gold item into Eye of the Watchers, and suddenly you have room for another item. Perfect for that Rabadon's Deathcap that you might get later on.
Nekusen1 votesi would agree if today games were long enough to make it to full build, specially for supports.
If they gave more gold, there would be more synergy between them and having an extra slot.
Ackelope1 votesThey're strong in the fact that they give you another item slot to use, rather than having to have both a support item and a sightstone. The question is, how much better, if at all, is the different item you'd purchase compared to the support item you'd normally have?
Kitten of Evil1 votes is actually a pretty good item to build, since most champs who would buy FOTM are tanky anyway, and the shield (while it can be helpful) may not be worth giving up a second slot. It keeps the minion execute, which is what most people care about on that line anyway.
Nekusen1 votesyes, but for the stats it gives, you could just end up selling your support item and getting instead, or just ending the game with