There are serious problems understanding the meaning of "support".

Riot hates supports, despite how much they deny it.

Remember before Shurelia destroyed their healing ratios, you would actually build all the supports AP?

The focus of the fights became "Target the healer/support first!"

It was actually really awesome. Back when I actually enjoyed league...

So true.

taric.

I've had a few support Pantheons.

Tons of damage.

The paradigm of "terrible scaling, ridiculous utility and base values" for supports that Shurelia created or was at least part of is not one of the better things to happen to the game. It heavily restricts design possibilities, codifies a specific meta, and restricts the builds of supports such that nothing really feels good to buy.

That being said, we do not need to go back to the time of super heals. Soraka being good is very, very bad for the game, and I am glad that Riot has gone away from that.

Anyway, people complaining about unconventional supports need to dry up. Having more champions who are capable of playing multiple roles is a good thing. You should welcome support Zyra, Maokai, Galio, LeBlanc, Ahri, Blitz, or whoever with open arms. Claiming that they're not "true" supports is stupid and petty.

I think supports are in a mess right now. practically dedicated supports are worse at supporting than some AP mids because of their repeated nerfs.

Supports as a whole need a class wide buff right now.

This is wrong for so many reasons:

1) These champs aren't joining the common supports in bot lane, they're replacing them.
2) Supports were nerfed for being viable in solo lanes, why should that be less OK than APC being viable in support? Also, when support was viable in mid, they never were really dominant, so APC wasn't threatened. If support champs are no longer competitive in their role, they lose their place in the game.
3) Most people don't understand how much this sucks for a support player. Imagine you're used to playing tanks top or AD casters top, then Riot introduces bruisers and they do your job better than you... That isn't a case of "you get variety! good for you!", it's a case of your champions being cut out of the game.
4) This is limiting the support dynamics present in the game. This is the difference between true supports and the new replacements - true supports had buffs/heals/shields, while the new "supports" are simply damage+CC. This is a dumbing down of the game, imo.

And here we have the problem of skill scaling.

Riot doesn't want healers to be run with farm, because a scaling healer is pretty much asking for someone to hardcarry, but they also can't bring themselves to call non-healers supports.

look, competitive play definitely play like the top 10% of champions, tournaments too.... thats because there is a ton of money on the line.

The decline in tourney popularity is not an indication that certain champions need buffs or that competitive pick need nerfs. Look at some of the recent things that have shifted in dynamic simply based on trend alone.

You may be surprised to hear this but Blitz is an OLD champ, and his kit has stayed pretty much the same through his life, yet blitz hasn't always been a guaranteed pick/ban. Nothing changed besides the mood of the community.

Nunu was NEVER really considered a "go to" support till people realised he helps make champions without an AS steroid more viable in the game with the buff. Again Nunu is an OLD champion.

I think Nautilis is one of the best supports that isn't picked much now, I thought Shyvana was sleeper before she became #1 Pick in tournaments.

find new dynamics and synergy between existing supports and ADC