Prolonged minion damage is not negligible to a squishy hero in the early game. I think they're fine there, but maybe they should scale better as the game progresses. It's true that by midgame creeps are already completely meaningless except as a gold farm and diversion for towers.

I don't think it makes any sense for them to scale, whenever I'm playing a game of DotA and a message pops up saying "the creeps have grown stronger" I always think, why? what has my team done to deserve stronger minions? Besides, I agree with gutter's points, they aren't there to be dangerous. And even in end game, the towers do so much damage, that few heroes dare to solo a tower without the minions as cannon fodder. Since the tower AI always targets the minions first, they do their job.

First, again, you cannot just harass freely in LoL at the early levels because the minions make a difference.

Second, you want stronger minions because these weak ones cause "reckless" playing...If it's reckless shouldn't you be able to take advantage of it? If your opponent is being reckless in their attack that means they're not properly evaluating what they're doing and they're putting themselves in a dangerous position. This is better for YOU not them because you can take advantage of this and potentially score earlier kills.

Now, if you actually meant "aggressive" and not "reckless", then that's just how the developers (and myself, personally) want the game to be. They want to encourage offensive rather than defensive play. This offensive play helps games end more quickly and makes the early game more action-packed. If the minions were stronger then you'd likely see exactly what you consider "good" (and I consider "bad") about DotA, being that everyone would just be standing around not doing anything because it'd take complex timing and maneuvers just to attack the other player.

EDIT: Grammarz0rz

In any games with options and controlled/minimized luck, the game is only as easy as your competition.

So you say that people do in fact get reckless. And I already addressed this. How is this bad for you at all? As long as you can contain your own reckless urges it should be quite to your advantage to have other people playing recklessly on the other team. More reckless plays by them = more kills for you.

And it's not less skill or risk or timing or judgment...

Skill - To actually get the kill you need to have coordinated attacks with your team or surprise the opposing player. This seems to be the same as in DotA, except you can do it while minions are around. Doesn't mean it takes less skill though.

Risk - Against most decent players playing a semi-independent champion you do take a decided risk by attacking them. Sure, especially at the low levels, you can probably run away with your life intact if it doesn't go as planned, but then you have to heal up thus minimizing your options. And if you're up against two opponents in a lane, then there's a pretty real chance you could get killed if you go in for the attack. Furthermore you never really know who could be on their way for the opposing team if they actually stay there and fight you as long as there's at least one champion concealed by FOW. Again, this just means that you have to be more scared of the actual player than the ghouls/treants in the lane.

Timing - Good luck killing a decent player without good timing. Just because minions aren't there doesn't mean you don't need timing. And taking random pot shots, especially as a melee class, will probably net you more damage than you give to them early on.

Judgment - Well I guess that combines all of the above, doesn't it? Bad judgment ganking/harassing can lead to a respawn timer for yourself.

And I wouldn't call -EM necessarily analogous to LoL...-EM takes a game that's designed to be one way and gives you bountiful resources thus practically nullifying the effect of previous strategies. LoL is designed to be a certain way so it doesn't feel like cheat mode the way it is despite opinions on what does and doesn't constitute skill.