User blog comment:Willbachbakal/(Item Concept) Another Look at Vision/@comment-25065710-20140722030732/@comment-1330314-20140722090704

"This system of structured vision-counter (where as you mentioned, invis-detection countered those normal Sight wards) gave the support an actual role in the game. "

This, I think, is one of the critical problems with the way supports are treated in the game: so long as we still label vision as a support-centric mechanic, and force supports to diminish their build for it, supports will never be able to fulfill their power fantasy as properly as they should. Season 4 has given supports a clear role, that of providing utility (not just vision) to the team, and has shown that supports with a full build can be scary. Supports now can build items that make their utility stronger, in addition to the big chunks of raw utility they already have access to, so the issue of "not scaling well" is something that, at worst, can be addressed through changes to utility scalings and, at best, is a thing of the past.

Put another way: if vision were the only thing making supports relevant in the game, then it would be better to rebuild the support role from scratch (which I don't think needs to happen) than to maintain a role that's gimped by its need to singlehandedly provide a commodity everyone should be investing in. Perhaps this may have been a valid concern in earlier seasons, but we have reached a point where supports are capable of the same power growth as other champions, given the chance, as shown by the rise of champions like and  in solo lanes. Supports provide utility that no other champion can match, and utility wins games: unlike vision, this utility varies from support to support, and it's this unique contribution that should be valued, rather than the ability to ward more than others.