I'm really excited for Season 3, a new start, new elo, new changes. So far most of what I see I really like. There are a number of things I'd like to see stay (such as Ionic Spark and other things I'd rather not see implemented, but for the most part I'm happy.

Many people don't think supports are going to be that much better, but I'd suggest the opposite. The gold flow on live summoner's rift is currently 1.3 gold per second, in the PBE it's sitting at 1.6. I've heard that they compensate this by reducing the gold that minions give but I'm not entirely sure. In any case, this is a total net gain for supports regardless of how they affect minions or jungle creeps considering we farm neither.

With that said we are losing Heart of Gold which is a pretty significant loss. In it's replacement we are getting Sightstone and Ruby Sightstone, but all in all it's not such a bad trade off. Heart of Gold was 825g for 200 health and the g/10 passive. Sightstone is 700g for 100 health and 3 wards. You alot less tankier but you're getting some value out of those wards assuming you place them. It could be considered a minor nerf, but supports like Soraka and Janna probably won't feel it.

But that brings me to my next subpoint. Which supports will become power houses in season 3? If I had to take a guess, I'd say mage supports like Zyra, Lux and Fiddlesticks, etc. will become top tier supports. Melee supports and/or supports that have hard engages like Alistar and Leona will be significantly weaker with Heart of Gold removed. They'll also be considerably weaker with the new Pickpocket mastery in the utility tree (for those that don't know pickpocket grants you gold every time you auto-attack, 5 for melee, 3 for ranged). Even with the gold gain higher on melee champions, ranged champions will always be able to get more auto-attacks in with alot less risk. Aside from that, Lux and Zyra are fairly aggressive supports that gain a decent amount of benefit from AP. I rarely even bought Heart of Gold on Lux or Zyra and often opted for Kage's Lucky Pick which will be remaining in the game. This is a huge boost for mages turned supports and a minor buff for your traditional supports.

Probably the biggest buff that supports are getting is the additional 25 movement speed. While boots are losing 25 movement speed this is pretty minor as supports will be able to start Faerie Charm most of the time. You could already start Faerie Charm but a lot of melee supports like to good boots for the mobility. This also lets us delay our boots 1 in favor of possibly going Sightstone or a second g/10.

We're also getting a number of new summoner spells. But with how last season went, I suspect summoner's will stay the same for the most part. Last season we were introduced with promote as a viable alternative for supports and we all know what a joke that was. This season actually looks a lot more promising. Exhaust is getting nerfed and Heal is getting buffed in the right areas to make it a viable choice for supports. Clairvoyance is also getting a buff but I don't think it will be a choice many supports will take. The meta probably wont shift too much from the lane-dominant orientation and CV just doesn't grant that. Even the changes I've seen on the PBE really aren't that overwhelming and I've always been a fan of CV even despite the nerfs.

Additionally, we're getting a ton of new items that really are more situational actives rather than passive aura's. I think this will definitely differentiate good players from bad players and make the support role a lot more difficult. You'll have to know what Items to pick and when and you'll actually have to use actives.
Take for example, Eleisa's Miracle. It builds out of Philosopher's Stone so you have to decide if Shurelyia's Reverie or Eleisa's Miracle is better. Eleisa's Miracle also upgrades into a permenant buff/aura and consumes the item but you have to gain 3 levels with it. So you have to decide if you can afford to upgrade early or if you need the extra g/10. Another item is Kage's Last Breath which gives a slow to an ally allowing them to initiate. So the way I read this is kind of like a lulu ult, in the sense that her ult slows everyone. This is a huge item and will probably be mandatory for supports as initiation is always on of the trickiest things to do with a support. Then we have an item like Wraith Collar which allows us to scout before putting wards or scout buffs/areas. This is a nice change for supports because it allows them to ward safely. Mikeal's Crucible is like a cleanse for anybody on your team. This is another item that will probably be heavily used. It has a very long cooldown which might inhibit it from being bought at times. But for champions like Skarner or Malzahar they ADC might want to pick up GA instead of QSS and this gives them that option. The 3 new items all seem to be viable in the current meta and some even seem like they'll replace older traditional support items. Aegis of the Legion is getting some changes and a cost increase so it probably won't be bought by supports anymore which leaves us to the new items and Shurelyia's Reverie, Zeke's Herald, Soul Shroud, Locket of the Iron Solari and Randuin's Omen. However due to the removal of Heart of Gold we may not be able to purchase Locket or Randuins anymore.

To Wrap things up, my predictions:
  • Mage-turned-supports and ranged supports will be at a significant advantage and will be played more. Think Gragas, Lux, Zyra, Fiddlesticks, etc.
  • Hard engage supports like Leona and Alistar will be much weaker without Heart of Gold and may not even see competitive play anymore. ( Taric and Blitzcrank might be hurting too, but both their kits are good enough that I think they'll be only slightly weaker)
  • Support itemization will be almost entirely in-game situation based, there won't be a standard route of Aegis-->Zeke's or at least not as much as we're used to
  • Increased passive gold flow and the new Sightstones will mean we're getting items faster and more frequently in games rather than being limited by ward purchases
  • This last one is kind of iffy and I'm not exactly sure on it yet but I think we'll see some changes come season 3 to ADC. I think we'll see a lot more Vayne, Tristana, Miss Fortune, and Varus. I know this is a little beyond support but ADC still affects the way supports play. Honestly, I'm baffled as to why Varus isn't played more. His early game is just as good if not better than pretty much every ADC excluding Draven and maybe Tristana. Aside from his strong laning phase he has a great initiate and while he's more risky than say Ezreal due to his lack of escape he's pretty under-appreciated. As far as hyper carries, I think all 3 (vayne, tristana, and kog'maw) will see more play. There's going to be more gold on Summoner's Rift so getting to late game will happen faster. Aside from that Tristana is in line for a rework so we could see her come out much stronger, like we saw Sivir after her rework. And in regards to Miss Fortune, since Cork, Ezreal, and Graves all got nerfed, she's become significantly stronger. She's flying under the radar right now, but I suspect she'll be huge at IEM Cologne or whatever the next tournament is.

That concludes my predictions hopefully I'm right on atleast a few and here's to a great season 3 and a new era for supports and league of legends