State of the Game from a long-time scrub

DL0 here, and no one knows me. I haven't played much Ranked at all, but I have been playing the game since the end of season 2.

There are all these threads about people hating the way the game is now, and they make valid points, but I'm gonna take the time just to note a few of the things I miss about the old game. #The Jungle Remember back when all we got from Dragon was gold, and Baron buff was only about as strong as Taric's ultimate? A team could catch up to a fed player by getting the dragon to overcome the gold difference. Granted, that made the dragon meaningless at full build. Hence the changes to make dragon a priority. It added to the role of the jungler in the game, but I feel like it changed the role a little too much. Jungle used to be a fun way to avoid lane exchanges and roam peacefully, but now it's crucial to a victory. A team without smite is a team without a win.

#Items RIP Deathfire Grasp, a relic of the bygone era of Akali's, Katarina's, and Kassadin's reign of terror. (Also one of the only 4 songs worth listening to on the Pentakill album). Sure, the item was a bit too strong for that state in the game, but alongside things like Death's Dance and Duskblade of Generic RPG Name, it would be right at home (granted that return to the desire for champions to have a specific role instead of building tank due to overtuned base damage).
Atma's Impaler. Ah, the glorious item speecifically designed for Garen. I feel like this would be a good trade-off on juggernauts, to remove some of their base damage in favor of critically striking spinning abilities. The old jungle items, I preferred over the new ones. It was really sad that they completely redesigned the jungle experience right after making the AD and AP options match Feral Flare in strength.

#Champion Design Back in the day, mobility was a huge issue, but it was the only stat that was pick/ban. We could get along by banning the top 3 assassins and Lee Sin. Now though, we don't even have the luxury of banning mobility in favor of fighting an opponent who will stand and fight. Juggernauts and Fighters are so strong now that it doesn't matter if we ban all of the hyper-mobile assassins-- Garen can still R for 900 true damage. And if we ban them, we're left at the mercy of mobile assassins with the base stats to build tank and still deal damage. On the plus side, added mobility makes the game more fun to watch, and as long as it's equal-- say, Zed against LeBlanc--then it makes the game more fun to play. And to pay for it, Kassadin basically had his magic stripped from him because of his comparatively high mobility, and has stayed that way ever since Xpeke crushed SK. On the down side, we no longer have the chance to focus the one champ with 20 kills for a chance to win-- the juggernaut or hyper-sustain fighter with Guinsoo's is just as much of a threat even if (s)he's 0-4.

#The Good Even with all that, the game has evolved. It's not terrible, there are just a few issues they haven't addressed. They're really trying. As we've seen from the last few champions, they've started to release them completely balanced instead of forcing them to be instantly banned like Yasuo was on release. Items are being changed constantly in attempts to make everyone viable--although there's work to be done in order to make it so certain champions don't abuse items too much AND so that when that happens, those champions are simply made fair instead of being gutted (here's looking at Cinderhulk Sejuani).

#Ranked Queues As far as SoloQ and DynamicQ go, I don't have much to say. I've never been a fan of the Ranked system. Professional play is done in strict teams who have practiced together and have the highest possible amount of communication. So I see no logic in allowing players a "solo" rank in a game where you absolutely cannot win single-handedly. The mechanics of this game don't allow a player, regardless of skill, to win a fight 1v5 without their champion being completely overpowered. I think Ranked should be limited to 5 man teams, but that team sizes should be increased so that a team can almost always have 5 members online--which is the biggest issue with team Ranked as-is. That's why I don't like to play Ranked. If I lose, it's because of my team (ME INCLUDED), but if I win, it's ALSO because of my team, not my actions alone. So why should I reap the benefits from players I don't know helping drag my sorry ass to victory? That's all up to chance. Even a player who split-pushes beautifully can only do so if his/her allies picked the right kind of team comp to lock down a 4v5 teamfight.