Thread:Lukeatlook/@comment-32613897-20170718141439/@comment-32613897-20170720032019

I'm not sure I follow. Lich bane and Twin Shadows existed for years before the introduction of Aether Wisp. There was also Frozen Heart gaining 10% CDR out of nowhere. So why would they bother finally implementing Aether Wisp after living with those oddities for years?

But whatever. My question had an ulterior motive. I'm working on some rework to Mage items, in order for them to have more structure and more logical build paths.

Like, if you look at ADC, you have Core Items built out of BFSword, Multipliers based on Zeal, Defensive based on Vamp Scepter, and the Last Whisper family. Each component has a clear purpose and solve a specific problem in early to mid game, and you can delay your choice of what full fledged item you want until later into the game, where you actually have more information to choose the right special effect according to the situation at hand.

This kind of structure is totally lacking for AP items, though, and I'm trying to solve that, but there is an over abundance of components with no clear purpose, and no real "family" for the full items.

My goal isn't to provide entirely new items, just organize the current ones more logically. Stuff like: "you want to trade regularly in lane? Buy a Hextech Revolver. You'll decide later if you prefer bigger procs on your basic attack (Lichbane) or procs on your spells instead (Ludens)." or "you know you can't win lane, so you just want to weather the storm and wait for teamfights? Take a Catalyst, and you'll decide later if you want more defensive utility (GLP) or some playmaking potential (Protobelt)". Obviously, it's easy to have a few isolated ideas that make sense, but putting everything into a cohesive whole is where it gets tricky.

Anyway, Aether Wisp is one such component without a clear purpose, it's just stats, and I was considering removing it entirely and keeping only Blasting Wand. Maybe even removing Needlessly Large Rod, as it's not clear why we should need two big AP components, possibly adjusting the numbers on Blasting Wand. AD just have Long Sword and BFSword, why should AP get 3 different tiers. What do you think? (Mostly about Aether Wisp, but I'm interested if you have some ideas about NLR too ^^)