Item idea: Barterer's Charm
This idea came from my love for the Seasons 1~2 items that used to give passive gold generation. Like 'em or not, they were a big part of shaping games and playstyles.
Philosopher's Stone, Heart of Gold, Kage's Lucky Pick and Avarice Blade! There was a good reason they were all removed: not only were they cost-effective in games that generally lasted longer but they could be stacked as well.
Solo lane champions would purchase one or several (cough
) and would play around a strategy of having a big impact mid-lategame with mostly finished item builds. However, they would also build these items so that they can purchase items they might need at any particular moment in the game more quickly.
My idea is for an item that honors the tactics of old without harboring that particular notion of playstyle, and would be impactful towards creating very healthy and graceful gold-generating gameplay:
Barterer's Charm Cost: 200 gold UNIQUE - BARTERER: Generates 7 gold every 15 seconds after 2 minutes into the game. This passive does not remain in finished items with Barterer's Charm in their recipe. Sells for 50 gold.
Barterer's Charm would build into a plethora of exotic items with special and unique effects. These would include items that could use the help of Barterer's Charm in their recipe without increasing their total costs for the sake of a more comfortable time building them:
If it winds up being so weak that even
wouldn't buy it
Only
currently buys this early and wouldn't care to buy a gold-generation item while rushing it
Barterer's Charm would also be added to the recipes of many previous unique problem items at the cost of increasing their overall price by the cost of Barterer's Charm so they cannot be rushed as easily, such as:
Now costs 3300, up from 3100
Now costs 2900, up from 2700
Barterer's Charm could be added to the recipe of any utility-based item that needs the extra help, or alternatively to any item that is an overbearing early purchase on certain champions and then add its cost to the total cost of the finished item! Bartererer's Charm (or whatever you want to call it) can be a balance tool for creative items all on its own! It especially fits in this quick-objective meta as something to consider purchasing with leftover gold between items!
_Details and Nitpicks:
I'm sticking with 7 gold per 15 seconds, as 2 gold per 5 seconds is a bit slow, 3 per 5 is too fast and since the limit of refunding an item after purchase is 10 seconds no one can abuse the passive then refund it. 250 gold is simply too steep for a zero-stat item, and 150 is not steep enough for its gold generation.
200, however, is at a special sweet spot for a potential Barterer's Charm + Rejuv. Bead + Refillable/3Pot start for beefy solo laners.
The original gold items gave 7.5g every 15 seconds, so 7 per 15 isn't quite as potent which is good because this item is a whole lot cheaper.
Ideally supports and safe solo laners would want to build this item, whereas most others such as hypercarries would always forego it in favor of immediate advantages, even if they were building an item it builds into in favor of quicker advantages. On top of that, they would put Cull at a higher priority than this.
_
Barterer's Charm! Is the meta just too quick for gold gain anymore besides the support items, is gold generation the plague or could something like Barterer's Charm really fit in and help increase the number of viable items? Also what is a better name for it? Or is the introduction of a name like Barterer's Charm an opportunity for people to practice their pronunciation and spelling?