I'm a gold 5 support main and I've got to say I am highly disturbed by this trend I am seeing of supports not buying sightstone. Can someone more op than me explain why vision control is less worth than rushing a different item on a support?
By the way I'm not referring to people getting something like boots or Nomad's first, or even - though I wouldn't do it - Face of the Mountain before sightstone. I mean someone with full Locket and Frozen Heart with no sightstone.
Self-rechrging sighstone that does not take up an item slot. If I'm not playing a tank support (Leona, braum etc.) I'm not going to dump 1200 gold in an HP item. Until you get it buy wards manually and maybe ask the adc to help out with one or two - mostly they have that little extra cash.
Sightstone is way to cost effective not to rush.
is not perfect. It leave you open early game before 9 with less wards during one back. However it have more utility (you don't have to back every 5 minute to make it work) and is a lot cheaper.
is the least slot efficient item in the entire game (you WILL lack of space at some point to build an item and will be carrying 300-700 gold late game because you can't buy a component of your next item) and force you into building hp which is not particularly efficient unless you build mr and armor to scale with it. Which is more or less wasted stats on a support because no one should focus you anyway. In any case, you're also 550 gold farther away from your first real full item power spike. So you trade a few minute of lack of vision for a few minutes of a lack of viable item.
I'm not talking about those support who ruch 
on first back. Those are just bad obviously. But I'm trying to show that the choice between and is real for supports.
Another support main here, only bronze 3 at the moment. i always rush sight stone. It's unbelievable how much that one item helps mid, jung, and bot lane (depending on ward placements of course). Not sure if relevant, but when I buy sight stone I also get sweeper and a pink (if I have 100g left) to help control enemy vision.
Depending on who I'm playing and how well we're doing in lane, I'll buy a different item before sightstone, but I'm still buying wards. (Like Sona, where my goal is to poke the adc out of lane to prevent farming. I'll buy wards still, but I'm rushing mana regen and a Sheen. Sightstone comes later.)
Though I just had a Lux support that didn't buy any wards or sightstone, and didn't even buy AP. Like, you're kinda useless to your team right now. And I always dread getting Blitz because they almost never buy sightstone, ever.
I usually switch it up. I might get frostfang first buts thats all I'm going to get before I get sighstone. If I'm doing bad then I rush sighstone so the jungler doesn't make the situaion worse.
Same way it makes me sad when I main support but if someone is higher in pick order takes it from me and the dont build it and don't buy wards either the place the one from trinket and done sad thing to see
It's never less worth...it's called people not wanting to support and they think they'll feel more "useful" if they get items instead. The upgrading trinket is fine...but not worth it overall as you're waiting until level 9 before getting any decent vision control...even then...it doesn't make up for the stightstone.
By the time you get to level 9 to upgrade your trinket...the amount of gold you should have spent on wards would have equaled about 2/3 to 3/4 of the cost of the sightstone...and you would have been without the HP which is useful on anyone. It's just a terrible idea not to get that sightstone.
