You were so close riot

Their logic for it is strange too. "want to keep RNG for excitement and variety" like somehow the 134,217,728 possible combinations that could occur if you were guaranteed 9 drops by time you finish Krugs wouldn't be enough variety. That number would/will be even bigger if they add another component for the construction of items for tenacity, veil, etc.

and then add ranked in the same instance LUL

I agree with the OP. But also, I am 100% not playing ranked until they fix the units just standing still (3 of them most recently) while there is a clear path to the enemy, no units blocking the way and clearly space available to move to. Thats not RNG, thats garbage, lazy spaghetti code. I mean, it happens EVERY GAME. If they fixed this and the item RNG (giving you gold instead of items? yea right that sucks) I would say this game mode rocks. Right now, it just poo poo.

Well looking at the comments this might come as a shock to many but I love the change.

I disliked getting no items after the first monsters and felt like it happened way too often. Now it always feels like I'm getting something and depending on what I get I can change my tactics. If I get gold instead of an item maybe I want to econ earlier (maybe even go pirates), take some damage but end up with 50 gold before everyone else. Early gold also means more chance to have a two star unit before PvP rounds which is an enormous boon as you could go on an early win streak getting you more money and preventing health loss for late game.

I'm sure Riot can refine this system even more (as anything can be refined - although I am providing no ideas to help in this endeavour) but my point was that it is a definite upgrade to what we had before.

Their balance team is walking life-fails and shame of the homo sapiens.

There's no extra variety in strategy if someone gets one gold and someone else gets an item. Basically someone gets royally fucked over while someone genuinely has a better chance of winning the game because items provide so much power.

I guess the question is "what is considered equitable first rounds outcomes?"

Is it zero items, better luck next time? Is it one items, good luck? Is it 2 items, there ya go? Is it 3+ items, grats? Is it zero items, but here's 2g to compensate?

I think they have a vision that may not be fully realized. In one of my matches, I picked up a Lucian on the carousel. I got zero items from the first wave, but I got 1gold. On the first flip, I had 2 Elises show up, so I sold Lucian, bought 2 Elises, and also had gold lefover to buy an additional card. It worked out well for several moments of the game, but in the end, I couldn't keep up. But that had a lot more to do with how the cards and my decisions played out from that point.

I guess the question really is: how much gold is one item worth and are people who don't get an item getting enough gold? Seems to me items > gold.