For all the imbalances in the game, there's only one thing I hope for
More responsive balance changes and faster acting.
I couldn't care if Lulu or Lucian was broken for one patch, because I know they'll 1) Be hotfixed, or 2) be nerfed next patch. However, it is extremely frustrating for champions to stay unbalanced for multiple patches, which is usually 3 to 4 and sometimes never because they just get rotated out of the meta or are only a problem in solo queue or only picked in competitive.
The cycle is pretty simple. Champion is or becomes broken or top tier (Can last for many patches)-> Riot doesn't nerf them next patch because they want to gather data -> Champion gets a small nerf or one of the items they build gets nerfed -> 50/50 on being untouched again because of data gathering -> Either nerfed again or rotated out of the meta -> Come back just as strong once the meta allows them to be played if they weren't nerfed again.
You can see this cycle repeated with many champions. Lucian is a very good example of this. During the "Lethality meta" of Jhin and Varus (also known as the "ADCs Useless" meta because of ADCs who weren't long range casters barely dealing damage and being blown up for getting in range, thus a strong caster meta because lethality was very strong to help widen the gap.) Lucian was waiting in the background, not nerfed himself, for one of his items to come back to viability and for him to comeback doing the same thing he did last time he was meta. You could say the same for Rumble, but in longer periods of downtime, and Caitlyn and Fiora, who has been loosely on and off for the past year. Of course, the cycle is 100% for all cases, but shows things very generally.
Now, the gathering data part would be a good idea to prevent massive overnerfs, undernerfs, and assist power assessment, but this system fails when you realize patches last two weeks. That's 4 weeks of a champion staying strong at least. If patches were weekly, this wouldn't be such a problem. This causes champions to stay unbalanced for far too long. This brings up how PBE cycles are set up. PBE cycles last 2 weeks and often unload all their changes within the first 3 days. Sounds like a good idea since it allows extensive testing for new champions, reworks, and huge changes. It is for this situation, however it also holds back future large changes from happening that PBE cycle. Imagine how much work could be done if during the second week of a PBE cycle, a new list of changes, buffs and nerfs for champions based on the current patch, were added. Lucian or Lulu or whoever wouldn't stay broken for 4 weeks, but instead 2, and other projects like a minirework could have more focus put into it and be improved and people would be happier and less frustrated at balance.
If there's a balance change I praise to a point, it is the recent Lee Sin nerfs. They don't force him out of the meta, and they aren't light nerfs either. Could Lee Sin need more nerfs after this? Maybe he could, but as it stands, this balance change wasn't pushing anyone out of the meta, it was doing what balance should do. The goal of balance should be improve the game. Of course we're going to have out the blue buffs to champions to make them more playable or viable. This makes sense.
So what should Riot do? Start by doing what I asked us to imagine. Use current patch statistics from the first week to introduce a set of nerfs and buffs on the second week of a PBE cycle. This speeds up the process of balance and allows more time to be available to focus on true balance of a champion rather wait too long that they rotate out of the meta.
Get in contact with high elo players, Diamond 3+, especially ones who have been that rank for multiple seasons. They're the players playing at the highest level and have the most experience at the game. Their insight is extremely valuable to have and has proven itself to be. Remember when Trinity Force became a bruiser item again and the change to Black Cleaver (-5 AD, cost from 3500 to 3100), and the Ranged-Melee Split of BoRK? These were both well received changes (of course no one could have predicted ADCs building Cleaver at the time) that were suggested by the same person who has been a high elo player for multiple seasons. Talking to people who are playing said strong champions (though they have bias to keep the strong) and those who don't play said champion but play the same role (though a bias against it being strong) and random high elo players of other roles (for mid-late game perspective) is very strong insight to have. Any person with good judgement could choose how to nerf or buff said champion of discussion based on their opinions.
Get in contact with the community. If people are saying that Lulu is overpowered (because of Polymorph), and even high elo players, then you should probably nerf Lulu (and her Polymorph). Crowd sourcing is a very powerful tool, though having some weakness such as the mindless nerf X threads without any insight, it is very available to Riot right here. If there's another thing to praise Riot on, it's their ability to be outgoing with their community, but that doesn't extend always to balance.
Don't be afraid to use hotfixes for balance. A lot could be solved with the occasional nerf to a champion immediately. Ivern overpowered? Increase his cost for marking a camp slightly. A little change solves a lot of problems.
Being more aware/less forgetful. Remember that Lissandra passive rework? What about GA unusually taking priority over Aatrox's passive? These are all things that should be changed or not forgotten. Besides, bottom turret still has no fortification even though First Turret Blood alone has killed the turret taking lane swapping business.
Lastly, have more confidence in your own ability. This sounds weird, but it makes sense. The balance team should be able to adjust a champion without fear of them potentially being underpowered or overpowered because of recent changes. Champion overpowered? Nerf them here and now! No need to wait on statistics and put changes onto the next patch. A majority of people would rather have an overpowered champion be not viable or meta than there to be overpowered champions.
Overall my desire is for the balance team to be more active and act faster when it comes to nerfing and buffing champions. More communication and confidence to help speed up the process. We shouldn't have to wait 1.5 months just for a champion to recieve meaningful nerfs from an overpowered state and we shouldn't have to see a champion come back as overpowered because there was a failure to balance them before hand.
