User blog comment:Big Lupu/Why do wards take slots?/@comment-3358335-20130613234847

You obviously understand the importance of wards. They're incredibly important. The strategic gain for having vision on the map is huge. Late game it is even more important than early game. The value far exceeds the cost in gold of an individual ward or even the sightstone. As the game progresses the value goes up, while at the same time gold is easier to come by. So how do you balance the value of wards?

You make it cost a covetted item slot. Sure there are a lot of items that would make me a better support in a fight, but now I have to choose between that or making me a better support before a fight. The best teams I have been on included not just a support with a sightstone but a jungle with a sightstone as well. Both were weaker in fights, but the fights were when and where we chose them to be.

If you made them not cost a slot, it would simply devalue the ward. Why not just get rid of the fog of war altogether? The cost of wards would now be replaced with the cost of Oracles.