Grinding Was Never Fun

Riot has said time and time again that they don't support smurfs but they won't take any action against them. Veteran(mobas or league) players make the complaint that the leveling process for new accounts is an irksome experience. At first glance this works out for Riot because new players usually don't detest leveling unless they have friends who tell them its something they should hate for so and so reason. In fact I don't even remember leveling my first account much less hating the process. Though as everyone knows very well in the online gaming industry, if you don't want to do something someone'll do it for you, if you have the money. There is currently a large number of bots leveling up accounts so they can be sold to players who can't be arsed to. In theory, bots really shouldn't have a reason to exist in a moba game. If they're made to play the game for you, and the fun comes from playing the game it really defeats the purpose of having a bot. They do all the mundane things for you (proving you don't get caught) so you don't have to; if you find the game mundane you should just stop playing. Even though I agree that the leveling system should be removed, doing so will create a few problems that'll need to be fixed.

Ranked Play

The reason most people make smurfs is because they want to play ranked on a new account and climb with it. Now if Riot were to remove the leveling system you'd have a HUGE number of people who would create a new account just so they could try and climb again. Could imagine how skewed the middle elo range would be from all the new accounts? It would be like another elo reset, except nothing was reset. Now I know what some of you are thinking, "Dota 2 does this and their elo isn't skewed!!" and you're right. However when you put a red button everyone wants to press on a mountain, then remove it what do you think they're going to do? They're going to all run to press it, and its going to create a large influx of new accounts in ranked. So what Riot is going to have to do is replace the current mountain with another mountain. For example making the player have to win 50 normal games before becoming an experienced player and being able to play ranked. This allows players to experience the game in full (runes, masteries, summoner spells) without the annoying hassle that is leveling. Botting would be less effective (they would have to bot longer) because they don't just have to get EXP, they have to get wins.

Runes, Masteries & Summoner Spells

Allowing players to choose more masteries + summoner spells and place more runes upon leveling up isn't accomplishing what Riot wants it to. This is a common technique executed in many games, giving more access to the player upon leveling so the player can experience everything without being overloaded with information. Well Riot you don't have to worry about that with Runes, Masteries & Summoner Spells because the meat of the game actually occurs in the game. No new player is going to sift through the masteries they've got between games and then experience the difference from different configurations. They aren't going to notice any difference in game from shitty level 1 runes, especially when they don't even have all their rune slots. And just because they might choose a new summoner because it was just unlocked doesn't mean they would stick with their first spell choice if they had them all. In reality they would most likely mimic what they see other people choose, or they can search up guides. Whatever Riot is trying to accomplish with the leveling system isn't being accomplished.

Replacing the Old System - Title System

Levels were used to determine a few things such as name change date. Instead of using levels you can use titles to dictate this stuff. A set number of normal/ranked game wins would give you a title. For example; 0 games = beginner, 10 games = novice, ... , 50 games = experienced, ... 1000 games = veteran and so on. People with higher titles can go for longer times without playing before their name can be taken. Same can be done with game modes.

Recouping Loses

At the end of the day, Riot ultimately losses money on this. They have to spend the money to get people to make a new system and they lose the revenue from EXP bonus'. So what can Riot do to recoup losses? Sell a single title. They can sell the experienced title, which allows you to play ranked, for $20. For all you people with rustled jimmies, calm down. If it was up to you everything would be free. You aren't forced to buy anything and this will get rid of the botting problem. People still won't want to get the 50 wins in even though they have all their masteries. People will still look for websites that can just sell them experienced accounts, since as long as they don't want to do it someone will make a bot to do it for them. Riot will just cut out the bots and the middle man so that players can get the experienced account from Riot for 20$. Riot gets the money, trading accounts/scams won't happen as often and even more bots are taken off the rift.

TL;DR

Removing leveling system(allow new players to start with all mastery and rune slots, all summoner spells) and replace it with a title system. Title changes as you get more wins, at 50 wins you get access to ranked play.  Riot can sell experienced title for 20$. No more bots, no more leveling system, no more grinding.

State of AD Carries and PBE Bloodthirster

The popularity of the BT has dipped across all regions and elos since the changes made to it. With 30 stacks the old BT had 20 AD + 3% more lifesteal than the current one. While it may not seem like a lot on first glance, the BT lost 20% of its AD and 16% of its lifesteal. BT did get a new passive but that didn't stop it from being a low-tier item for ad carries. Aside from just the raw numbers there are also a plethora of other factors which made the BT lose the title of highest priority AD item.

Power Spikes

As the game evolves and players understand to play the map better we learn to use the tools we have to garner advantages more efficiently. Power spikes were always identified through thresholds such as champion level and item progression. AD carries were identified strong once they hit their third big item, mages once they hit levels 6, 11 and 16. While you can still identify a powerspike through those means, players have started to manufacture pseudo power spikes. By doing this you're able to put more pressure on the map because your champion is much stronger than it regularly is at a specific time. Think of a Twitch with GB and BotRK versus a Twitch with BotRK and PD. The former is much, much more stronger than the latter if they only have those items with a zerkers and a dblade. GB's mid game power is very strong because it can be utilized much more efficiently mid game than in the late game. For most (if not all) ad carries their optimal build doesn't have GB in it. Since most players follow builds somewhat religiously, psuedo power spikes created by building off the beaten path have gone unnoticed for quite a while. Not to say it hasn't been done, just that it wasn't done enough for the builds to become staple for a role or champion.

BT had a HUGE powerspike when paired with TF and was a large part of the reason why it was so popularly built. Other than BT + TF, ad carries aren't all that useful during the mid game. Normally they would have to hit the big three item threshold before becoming of any real use, outside from a few outliers. The BT + TF powerspike developed a new playstyle for ad carries in competitive play, where they took a much more active role in the mid-game. When BT was nerfed, instead of returning back to the old style of play and build people searched for a different way to reach the powerspike so that they could still impact the mid game heavily. This is where the popularity of GB + BotRK skyrocketed.

Buildpath

Its also worth noting that you're able to get more stats momentarily when buying a BotRK than a BT. BotRK has a bunch of small pieces to buy so you can back and come back into lane with more items than the person trying to save up 1550 gold for a BF sword.

Youmuu's Uprising + Twitch

Before patch 4.10 GB already had a surge in popularity. AD carries who favored (mainly Vayne and Twitch) BotRK had tenancies to build GB right after to hit their powerspike. This was especially so with Twitch, infact we may have not seen this build at all if it weren't for him. During 2014 Allstars Twitch saw a rise in play due to the fact that not many people had experience playing against him. His mid game powerspike came from the fact that he could roam and pick off kills very easily but teams learned how to play against him very quickly and he fell off the map just as fast as he appeared. Teams learning to play against him lowered his mid game prowess a lot until BotRK/GB build took rise. Twitch was much more powerful mid game with this build but not just because he was able to gank other lanes, but the actives and ultimate allowed him to throw his weight around in teamfights mid game very effectively. Vayne players who were already building BotRK and maxing W (as opposed to maxing Q and building BT) started to build GB as well, as it synchronized with their ultimate.

When BT was nerfed and people felt like the powerspike that was brought from BT/TF wasn't worth the gold it cost anymore, BT fell to the bottom of the list of items you'd want to build first on an AD. Before 4.10 there were two mid-game powerspike builds for ADCs and so when one got nerfed, everyone obviously defaulted to the other. It worked very well for Lucian and the ones it couldn't work for defaulted back to the 3 item threshold playstyle. Not to say that AD carries got weaker, infact I would say that they got stronger late game. If they ever reached it, that is. With so much of the map outcome being decided in the mid-game, having an AD who is strong in the mid-game is very important. The team that doesn't have an AD with a mid game power spike will try not to make any map movements and will just wait until the enemy makes a mistake or starts getting outscaled before starting to take action. With BT gone, TF followed after since it was part of the BT/TF powerspike and the item diversity for AD carries stayed relatively the same early game, lower in the mid and the same during the end.

PBE Bloodthirster

The BT on the live patch has been changed in the PBE. The shield amount has been lowered but it stays up for longer. The really important change is the new passive that gives 10% bonus attack damage.  We've already established that the item efficiency isn't the only reason for an item being in flavor or not, we have to think about whether it can be used to create a power spike or if it'll just be an item to add to your build later on. If its the latter, the buff isn't really that game changing and just buffs AD carries who build it in the lategame. So the question is, can the new BT be used in conjunction with another item to create a 2 item powerspike? The passive gives 10% BONUS attack damage, so its not going to be as strong as it was before stat wise until you get a dblade and 200 bonus attack damage. First we should find out who it'll most likely benifit the most. Probably Draven, Graves and Sivir since they can dominate their lane and the game with enough AD. These champions have their own AS boosts as well, so they can do with just zerkers for a while. The champs do better with flat AD quints than with flat AS quints as well. With a dblade, flat ad quint + ad marks and a BT you have about 112 bonus AD with the new passive, 102 bonus AD without. Those three champions won't do well with TF and they don't need the AS early so more flat AD would be the optimal route. The only thing I can think of is LW.

BT+LW has always been a 2 item powerspike for Graves and Draven for a while but its even weaker now statwise than it was before even with the passive. You have 157 AD instead of the 163 AD you used to have, so about 6 ad short of the original. The only difference is now you still have the shield. Albeit weaker since it it got nerfed, it lasts longer so you're able to go into fights with it on much more easily. The question is, is it good enough to compare to the power spike of GB/BotRK? Well, its different. GB/BotRK is a powerspike, but as soon as those actives are used the power spike is greatly diminished until their back up again. You might think this doesn't matter because they'll just wait until the opportune time to use it but it isn't that simple. They have to wait until the opportune time to use them or else they'll be useless. The champs who build BT+LW are already lane bullies, but with their two item spike they don't have any downtime on it. They can throw their weight around in lane as much as they want and if the enemy tries to engage with their actives they can just back off and force objectives while its down. Not to mention that bullying the lane becomes even easier with a shield, BT+LW vs BotRK+GB may just become a case of apples vs oranges.

Conclusion (TL;DR)

The new BT may be able to create a new powerspike with LW, enabling them to bully around enemy laners who have to save their actives or end up losing their powerspike.

BotRK = Blade of the Ruined King
ADC = AD carry
AD = Attack Damage
BT = Bloodthirster
LW = Last Whisper
GB = Youmuu's Ghostblade
TF = Trinity Force