Why I miss the old masteries.

I miss them because they were flexible. You could go 21/9/0 or 0/9/21 like how the current system has 18/12/0, but this system just doesn't have the flexibilty of the old system. I used to previously go 21/6/3 and 30/0/0 and similar variants, which are just either impossible or unviable in todays mastery system.

Furthermore, this mastery system has gone from being a secondary source of power to nearly a primary source of power. Stormraiders, thunderlords, windspeakers, and all the other keystones are really cool yeah, but there's simply no trade off for picking them. It isn't stats vs extra damages (or defenses). They are just there and pretty muchy required because they add to a champion as much, if not occasionally more than their own passive or ability might.

Going from flexible secondary power to locked primary power. We've stepped down from the awesomeness of the old system. Primary power is conceptually cool but with its sheer limitations in this system it becomes a gimmick that can break champions. What I want from masteries is subtle changes to gameplay (increase cap to cdr, add magic damage to autos, etc.) rather than (extra x damage every 10 seconds, as you attack you gain stacks that deal extra damage up to 100... as you lose hp you gain insane lifesteal... And it continues). The primary violators are warlords, fervor, thunderlords, stormraider's surge, and grasp.