I would love to know everyones opinions on "The New Meta". Should you follow it or just completely ignore it? And for those that are new to League, explain what Meta means and what it is. If you dont mind me posting this to my blog then go a head and write away! But if you do I'll put you as anon, if you designate it.
If for no other reason, learn the meta so you have an idea about what other people are likely to do, then do what you like.
Should you follow the meta? It depends on what you mean by the 'meta.'
If you mean how champs are played for particular roles, absolutely, yes. Champs can certainly be played with different builds and different lanes, but there's limits to that. AP mid Annie is better than AP mid Garen. "But it works for me!" I bet it does, man, but if you can make AP mid Garen work, I bet you'll do godly with top tank Garen. Off-meta is fine if you know a champion really well, and the role makes sense with the kit; support Vel'koz is one of my personal favorites. But don't feel like you have to break the meta for its own sake. You're not a worse player for using a champ in the lane they're made for.
Flavor of the Month (often abbreviated FotM) is another matter. Fuck that shit. Don't play what's OP this patch trying hard to win. Fuck that. Play what you like and know, and get godly at it. Pick a champ and learn them inside-out. If you main kha'zix jg, and you get flamed for not going Sejuani or whatever, mute that LCS-worshipping trash and make the enemy squishies shit their pants every time they walk into the jungle.
Respect the meta, know the meta, but the meta isn't everything.
i don't really care tbh if it works, i play it, and if people have a problem with it, who fucking cares lol
There will always be a tank meta. -- Me, A Tank Jungle Main.
Eh. I think it's important to recognize when a meta changes and see how it effects you, but not necessarily to follow the meta pick for pick.
For example, I use to main Ziggs. Poke, waveclear, peel, and long range ults all day long. It was fun to me, and I liked the champ. But towards the end of Season 4 I noticed a trend towards assassins that I couldn't handle. It was one of those "adapt or die" situations, and so rather than figure out how to make Ziggs work in this shifting mid lane meta, I decided to shop around for a new champion.
I found out that I didn't really love LeBlanc, or Ahri, or any of the other mobile mids that I came across. They didn't feel like a good fit for me. Eventually I stumbled upon AP Ezreal, you know, that "troll build". Well, I dove into spreadsheets and builds, changed my runes, and in the end had an AP Ezreal build that I was happy with. To date, I've played over 100 games on AP Ezreal, with a 52.94% win rate over all of those games, and a 60% win rate in my latest 20 games (and no, that doesn't count URF). For comparison, lolking.net puts Ezreal's win rate at <48% in Bronze, <48% in Silver, <48% in Gold (my MMR would probably put me in one of those three, haven't gone back to ranked this season, but ended Silver 4 and could have still climbed last season).
I knew the meta was changing and I adapted to it, but I adapted in a way that wasn't "meta". It worked out for me though.
The meta is just the 'shape' of the game that people expect(who is going to provide what to the team). I feel it is most important for people who are NOT yet experiend to follow it because it allows them to actually form teams that work.
When you are experienced, it is okay to experiment provided you do so with a reason. Not just "Oh I want to go malzahar ADC" but rather "Against x toplaner, y toplaner works really well and since our jungler is tanky we don't need a tanky top so I can go y without any sacrifice". Breaking the meta is great, provided it is done with a logical reason AND your team is able to make up for whatever sacrifice you're making by going a non-meta route.
Typically new players won't recognize what fulfills those conditions, so it is most important for them to follow the meta.
I came for the PichuLInk... Lichu... Pink champion concept and there's nothing about it.
Super disapointed.
Meta matters, but it doesn't mean that you should follow it.
New tank items 
are really good, so tanks are definitely better than before. But that's not a nerf to others.
New meta? I'd say in general you should at least know why it exists, so you can safely break it or ignore it.
