Just some thoughts.
Instead of being my usual pretty annoyed self with Riot I stopped to think pretty long and hard about why the enjoyment of the game has declined so heavily, These are just some thoughts. Keep in mind I am a software engineer and a team lead at a company that develops erp software. I have spent a lot of money on this game at one point probably over 2k (i used it to stop smoking cigarettes at one point).
'the meta'
One thing you have to understand is that some things will always be stronger than others. Champions will be outclassed by other champions at their role. Soraka should be the champion you pick to outheal poke, Lulu should be the champion you pick to poke down Leona before she has an opportunity to all-in you, Leona should be the champion you pick to pop sorakas head off before she has a moment to heal any harass back up. If you are noticing everything has a weakness and a srength. In a game as complex as LoL you need every character to have a reason to exist. For that to be the case that means they have to counter something. Champions become 'useless' or 'not viable' should only be when something else does their job better, not because they can't do their job effectively at all. That is what Riot is missing. Cait should counter vayne because of her range. Vayne should only win that matchup when they outplay caitlyn. Because Riot has decided to change core mechanics, the landscape of the entire game changes. This is actually the root cause of many issues the game faces today. Let's say you are coding an app and that app is suppose to play a video. But for some reason that video is not playing correctly, wether it be no audio, no play button, etc, the shit doesn't work. You have two options: 1) fix what is broken before making further changes or 2) change the way the audio works, the play button works, and the resolution all at the same time and pray nothing else breaks from the code changes. Well when you nerf adc items, buff adc stats, and then change tank items, while changing other things to fix an entire class of characters, its really hard to determine what things change the game in what way. Now take this incorrect way of programming and do it for a year and a half. That is why we are where we are. I will acknowledge that there will always be a 'meta' and some characters will always be stronger at certain things. That does not mean some character should be borderline unplayable.
'change'
So before I get into change, lets talk about why the meta is adc and support bot, mage/assassin mid, tank/bruiser top,etc. ADC's need to be kept safe from things so they get a support and go to a side lane. They are bot because dragon is up more often and have more people near that objective makes it easier to grab. Assassins and mages usually have great roaming power and are bursty. So you put them in the middle of the map to make it easy to influence the lane you need to influence to win the game. Junglers jungle. Ezpz explanation right? So why does this have to change? Bruisers are originally known for their high bases and meh scaling ability. They are early game lane bullies like renekton and rumble. They don't need a support to hold their hand. They are easily able to 1v2 and get a double kill. ADC's need the support because a very early movement speed nerf in season 1. They need to have their hand held to get to late game. I think if we are going to change the game, make this more prevailant. ADC's like to farm up and get strong and harass and trade. Make supports more about getting them to their power spikes. Make the early game ADC's more about bullying and make it to where if the scaling adc gets to mid/late game they shit on the early game adc. Why would you want the early game adc to be strong all game? If you are playing draven/some other early game adc bully and you cannot bully the enemy, you are not doing it right. Go back to the drawing board. << this is how it should be. Change characters to fulfill the roles they were intended to fill. Stop trying to make the game flashy and exciting. If people are going to leave, these changes won't stop it. They just end up pissing off more players and cause them to leave.
'the issue'
The issue is not the game, its your philosophy behind balance and your attitude towards the players. your philosophy behind scrum and sequence breaking meta issues is garbage. you change 15 different things that all factor into issues in the meta and wonder why the game keeps getting mangled into the mess that it is. on top of this you act like you don't owe us shit, but you owe us your paycheck and your happiness. you are learning that without us, you don't have a job, a house, or anything. pro players won't stop the playerbase from feeling betrayed. making your game look fun doesn't make use buy more skins. you just keep digging your own grave. sooner or later we start to fill the hole with you in it.
