The best change Riot could ever implement into this game
"Every player must place at least 1 ward every 3 minutes. Players who do not do so lose 5% of their max HP every second until a ward is placed. Wards placed within their team's base do not count. This rule is not in effect before 2:30."
Is there potential for abuse? Of course, but that occurs with any change Riot implements. With this measure in place, even the most forgetful and braindead of players will have a genuine incentive to place wards. Those who don't ward die; it just depends on how you want to die. Might as well ward and save not only your own life, but the lives of your team mates, right? This would also help players keep track of other timers such as summoners, jungle camps/dragon/baron, and even ability cooldowns. Having to keep track of ward timers all game, players would naturally grow more accustomed to other timer elements, thereby improving their strategic play.
Perhaps add a visual effect to the boarder of the player's screen that glows brighter the closer they get to dying due to lack of wards. Or simply add an icon on the HUD that shows the remaining ward timer for each player. Just for the love of god, do SOMETHING to make players start using wards. With the system as it is now, players are merely encouraged to place wards, not forced as they should be. If their gameplay experience is actually punished for not doing so, maybe they would think twice about warding.
Sure, you could argue that they're already punished, since players who don't ward usually get ganked or caught out; but the punishment isn't immediate enough in terms of operantly conditioning them to ward. Ganks sometimes don't come, or the enemy team is too stupid to pick them off, or these events happen to late for one to say definitively whether warding would have made a difference. But if the player who doesn't ward is suddenly stricken by losing a % of their max HP every second, you can bet that player will grab some wards the next chance they get.
Naturally, this change would affect lower elos more than upper elos, since upper elo players already know the importance of warding. Though to be honest, I seriously doubt most upper elo players ward as much as they should. Seeing as how vision is without a doubt the most important aspect of the game, warding should be taken much more seriously, both by Riot and the playerbase. And I mean really............wards are 75 measly gold. SEVENTY-FIVE!!! For an item that turns the tides of entire games on its own, that's a bargain no one should pass up. And with this change, no one will.
