User blog comment:LivesByProxy/Mastery Redux & Game Design Theory/@comment-5035765-20160120041911/@comment-26815373-20160120184752

@Iffem: Effectively, yes. I think the keystones are a neat idea, and better than the old iterations of the masteries we've had, in terms of power level that I'd like to see. As Will mentions, each keystone offers a specific bonus with a gameplay goal in mind. That's what I want to see more of from Riot, instead of raw stats - not that raw stats are a bad thing.

I also think that a system like I'm proposing, with masteries like I'm proposing, allows for what you said: champions can do multiple roles, picking and abandoning masteries as they see fit, without really losing out on important masteries deep within a tree.

So if I was a mid I'd probably take Precision, Merciless, and Numbers from the Tactics tree, Patience and Meditation from Spirit, and Runic Affinity and Sorcery from Lore. Alternatively, if I was going Swain bot as support I'd take Meditation, Insight, Unyielding, Runic Affinity, Architecture, Sorcery, and Historian. Granted, I'm not a Swain main, so idk what they best suite for him would be.

Also, the 'kind of gameplay' that I think Riot wants to see, is, like I said, largely objective-focused, with the emphasis on teamwork. Are you tired of you ADC always getting run down by the enemy tank / bruiser? Rather than telling her to 'get gud noob' and 'stop feeding' have her take masteries like Agility, Evasive, Merciless, and Flanking, while you (the teams tank or bruiser) take things like Unyielding, Conviction, & Flanking. That way, you are rewarded for doing something you should prob be doing anyways - peeling and assisting an ally in trouble. ;)