EDIT: People seem to be missing the point. I made this topic out of concerns that the numerous gold nerfs have affected the supports ability to support. Not because I think supports (x,y,z reasoning). Also, if you're going to insult Riot members, please, don't. I would prefer actual discussion in this topic.

Something that was brought up in another topic:

Abliet slight exaggeration, it's the truth. And I remember Shurelia somewhere stating she supports the current meta where supports get basically just aura items and be a ward ***** the whole time. Mildly scary thought since she is going to be in charge of the whole support remake. This isn't to say I hate Shurelia, or anything like that, I love the work she has done. Rework Ryze being a perfect example of that. And she's been quite supportive in talking with the community currently. Then again, so are most Reds. But this sidenote is becoming a rant.
(EDIT: These statements involving Shurelia I have since learned aren't entirely what she believes or wants to do, so excuse some of this point)

My main point is I worry with the current design direction, it'll make it impossible for supports to truly be anything more than be a ward-bot(when warding should be the responsibility of the team- and if not the team at least the jungler should be helping the support as well with map control), get one or maybe two aura items if they're lucky, and throw out incredibly weak heals/stuns/sheilds or what have you, since they were unable to build any ap to make their abilities more powerful.

With these constant changes, it'll eventually make only a support like Janna, who has a lot of CC, the only useful support in the game. And then she'll be OP in comparison to other supports and nerfed down to their level too. Or maybe not, since I do remember Morello stating somewhere Janna was a support whose design he absolutely loved. That last part is more or less a"ridiculous" prediction, but eh.

It's funny how this whole emergence has happened. Because months ago, back when this wasn't the popular playstyle, everyone still got their items effectively and supports were able to get items that made their abilities stronger for better support capabilities AND get aura items. And were still able to ward effectively as well. And their lane partners were still able to get their builds off in a decently quick time as well. We've sacrificed that equilibrium for a mentality which essentially make supports aura/ward bots.

I'm not claiming supports have been made useless by any means, I'm just saying their overall potential has been vastly reduced. They still have the ability to support now, it's just inherently weaker. And while the mentality changes have made their lane partners stronger overall (arguably not so since the gold nerfs have also affected them as well, but I won't get into that here), it still makes for a game with a weakened ally.

My question would be, rhetoric or not, are these changes, both direct and indirect, that have limited a supports potential, worth the benefits it has given to the other players? I'd argue not, since that support has now had their abilities, which are a huge part of their support, weakened.

Good points brought up by other posters that I hope Riot will read:

Yep. Shurelia wants...

- 0 CS support to be the norm (it's not like buying items is fun...)
- Supports scale with CDR, not AP (lategame = non-existent)
- Heals to be pretty much worthless (hi Kayle)

It's really sad that our beloved Support champ's best friend has become their new worst enemy.


As a bit of irony:

Riot: We don't feel Ryze's burst is good for the game so we're remaking him.
*a little later*
Riot: We're proud to introduce our new burst mage Brand!

Riot: We feel like Ghost is too powerful as a summoner spell so we're nerfing it.
*a little later*
Riot: We're really tired of seeing 5 Flashes every game.

Riot: We feel like healing reduction is unfun so we're nerfing it across the board.
*a little later*
Riot: Healing and sustain is pretty OP.

*headdesk*

The part about CDR being the best stat for support is so true and so sad. How often, because of the recent meta and all those things, I saw a Soraka rushing GP5 and not getting any other item, healing for like 100 HP end-game isn't saving us at all...

Since I mostly main support, I get flames from carries when I am getting 5-7 CS from a lane that has been abandonned by a carry for a few minutes. Then, I answer I need AP to save his ass. He answers that I don't, laying wards should be enough to save him....

You should check out my parody rap about support champs. it will make you feel better because it supports those women we owe so much to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-8Xx09JHmg

Thank you, I knew she had said something along those lines. (EDIT: or not)

As for the last bit, it's more of a causality affect that Riot should be predicting when they are in the design process. But work needs to be done in steps, so eh.

Brand is honestly a fine addition(I'd argued he's one of the most balanced champs in the game), but his addition is one that, I suppose, could be argued makes characters like Ryze worse off. But they each have their own lil' things they bring to the table. Either through their abilities that indirectly help allies (Ryze's Snare/Brand's Stun. Ryze's bounce effect vs. Brands) or through abiltiies inherently meant to help themselves (Brand's DoT or Ryze's lifesteal, though it's been a while, forget if Ryze still has that or if I'm confusing him with someone else).

Yeah, but they won't do anything about Flash. At least not for a while. And the applications of that are largely dependent on the player. Personally, I use it almost exclusively in an aggressive manner. But I won't get into that as it's a "controversial" topic and has little to do with what I'm saying at hand.

Yeah. Stupid on this one.

Anyhoo, noticing a lot of upvotes but no discussion. That's how topics die people. : (

Yeah, the recent one makes sense, but my point is that it really feels like a slap in the face. Supports are still earning barely any gold and NOW they're worth gold again when you kill them if they're supporting well. Meanwhile, a support who is supporting well isn't getting much of any gold at all. It's stupid for such an essential player to the field to be so weakened by this design direction and by player mindset.

Just pointing out some inconsistency between what Riot tells us and what they do. Pre-rework Ryze was a lot of fun and post-rework Ryze is a lot of fun. I just feel like some people in Riot aren't "in the loop" on doing things.

Right now they've nerfed all the healing reduction stuff and are complaining about healing/sustain being a problem. You look at that and think "Well why didn't you wait to nerf healing reduction until you had changes in place for healing?" Same with Ghost and Flash--why not wait to nerf Ghost until you have a change ready for Flash? Riot is either really horrible at communicating internally or their foresight is absolutely non-existent.

I sometimes feel like Riot knows what they want but don't have a clue about how to get there. Rammus was nerfed 3 or so times before Riot finally nerfed the part the community had been telling them to for months (and then never reverted the other nerfs so he's bad right now). Leona is finally getting buffs but it'll be a month or two before she gets the ones she actually needs and when she does she'll end up OP (from all the unnecessary buffs).

It's just really frustrating to see Riot making the same mistakes again... and again... and again. As of today, the new victims of the month are support champs. :/

Aw no one checked out the Support rap...