User blog comment:SirAston/Thoughts and suggestions regarding Summoner Spells/@comment-3297251-20130808154800

I share approximately the same thoughts as you about these. I don't think Barrier is overshadowed by Flash, but more by Ignite. I personally use it instead of Ignite in the top lane (Exhaust is the same boat as Barrier). Making the damage non-lethal is indeed an interesting idea. Ghost has the same issue as Barrier with Flash. Even though most of the experienced players know that Ghost allow the user to travel a longer distance over time than Flash, people will always take Flash (except for a few champs as you said) simply because Flash is currently "too" versatile. Want an escape or chase an enemy to get the last hit on him ? Flash is there for you. Surprise gank  ? Jumping over a wall ? Flash allows you to do both. Playing a strong and tanky champ that lacks an initiation tool (think Galio for example) ? Just flash in to engage.

While it's true that Ignite is (kind of) OP, Flash is just plain stupid and every single chase looks the same. It's a mandatory spell because of how useful it is compared to the other spells.

Fix those two (or straight out remove Flash), and I'm pretty sure we'll see large variety of spells in-game.