I'm curious as to what feedback/insight you might have, mr cow.  I think my general familiarity with you makes me think you might not be able to provide as much insight, but that's probably just silly on my part.  I'll hit you up sometime then - I'm really only interested in bumping up my support skill level and perhaps improving things I can do for mid/top lane as support at various points.  

So, just jotting down a list of things that I'm working to improve based on recent experience.  All points tailored specifically to thresh as support (and to limit other possibilities to keep from going insanely broad).

• Decision making on when to take gromp or doubles when its possible + how to play the lane if we do that that experience.  Currently, I'm undecided/need more info atm.  I need to determine what adcs can take it quickly enough to justify taking it, who takes the xp, and then determine how the lane should be played (eg aggressive to hit 2 or passive based on champ).  Could come to this conclusion probably based solely on what adc is with me - but difficult to get enough data/focus on this for long as most jungles at this elo don't allow you to take.  One other thought -if its available, it might always be smart to at least take the little krug for a tiny bit of gold/xp.  Hurts the jungler a wee bit, but no negative impact to bot lane in taking at all)
• Level 1-2 game play - I think this is generally the weakest part of my thresh play (which is a pisser because I'm actually pretty good at getting some beast level 2 play with a semi aggressive adc in my bucket).  I'm really undecided on the best way to work the lane and its all somewhat situational.  I've learned that I'm going to NOT focus primarily on getting a last hit in on a creep with my passive charged up and instead focus on either damaging creeps to push for a level 2 advantage (this goes to shit based on how my adc responds).  Or do that a little but focus hard on chunking the enemy support or adc while my adc applies pressure.  Anytime I was able to land a flay just from aa/flay (my usual combo), my d3 buddy was able to land about 2 AAs without losing a trade.  I think I need to figure out how to tailor my aggression levels to my lanemate.  The d3 guy adapted to me rather than the other way around.  He also played thresh 1 game with me ADC and he showed me how to run the lane - he was very aggro and caused a lot of chaos/drew attention.  zero passivity and he seemed to have a VERY low interest in getting relic stacks
• Summoner spell timing - i need to get MUCH better at this.  At the very least I need to be CONSISTENTLY typing out jinx f, etc.  Best if I can type jinx f 9:18.  That's a min.  I also need to be timing the other summoner.  And I need to do this for not only my lane, but other lanes when I see things if they aren't calling.
• Ward timing - if I see a ward get dropped, I need to call the location and toss a time stamp.  That probably does jack for us in my bucket, but occassionally I'll have a jungler or mid that will do something with that info
• Consistently get wards deep in bot lane (eg blocking bot lanes escape) to allow for TP ops.  Its the tardo tp meta, provide beast tp locations AND mention they are in place to top lane
• DEEP Jungle wards - I need to TRACK the enemy jungler and drop wards giving vision of him.  A pink is swell provide I can drop it early, but greens will do.  I NEED to stay on top of this throughout the game.  If the jungler is on the bot side of the map, I should know exactly or at least roughly where he is.
• Call out jungle location - in some instances at this elo bucket, folks just don't pay enough attention to the mini map.  Its ok to call out jung top, jung mid, etc.  Kind of annoying to some folks I'd guess, but that info also helps if your jungler is a dumbo.  His brain might kick into gear and either counter jungle or make a gank somewhere else based on that call out.  
• ASSUME people have no idea what a mini map is - provide useful pings as you spot out enemies, etc.  
• Call out pink locations if you spot them on the mini map (pink + ping)
• Roaming pink - guys my elo bucket often suck at pinking mid or top.  I can help if I mobo rush early.
• Not being a cheap bastard on pinks - I'm a support so I'm already kind of broke, but I need to be willing to WASTE pinks if there's potential (eg if there's a rango and I think a fight is about to break out, slap that sucker down preemptively (eg before rango fear indicator pops up)
• Roaming ganks - need to determine when is the best to do this on thresh.  I'm already keyed into the proper time frame and get when its ok to roam without ruining my adc (getting better at it anyway), but I need to pay more attention to the lanes before I even head that way - AND I should let the lane know I'm coming.  
• Frequently use f keys to check on lanes 

When tanks were popular, Sej and Gragas were just better.  Now Sej sucks, but tanks aren't so popular.  Plus, playing pure tanks in solo queue is kind of frustrating since its so team dependent.  Nobody wants to play tanks in solo queue unless they are really really strong or really really easy (AMUMU).

good point - I started playing some graggy again for a minute with it appearing so much in worlds... but in solo queue... its rough without a team.  At least elise has some solo carry potential.  2nded 

Been doing really well with not tilting the past few weeks - been working on that.  I can confirm that PDT still has the same old tendencies.  Mr Boaz has been around a bit more, which I dig as he's a nice guy.  I have no idea what's going on with my mmr atm - feel like most games are just silly mismatches with really awful play.  I had a kindred adc one game (yay... kindred adc) that could not get through her head that she was losing lane.  No matter what, she'd just go all in again and again.  Don't think was trolling... just... not smart.  

I think there's a small lesson for me anyway.  If I'm not feeling challenged (challenged as in not challenged by my teammates incompetence, but instead by good players on the opposing team), that's where I start in with all my crazy strategies and gold generation, and super ballsy all in plays.  And then that mindset would trail over to games with you fellas.  Boredom is the root of all my of my research/theory crafting/how to make support more relevant via gold generation/itemization.  BUT - when I'm super keyed into improving and working on myself (instead of consigned to playing against mediocrity), I could care less about GDM, etc.  I don't even care about rushing the 2nd tier gold item - I've got other crap to do.  

Yeah that's true. In hindsight there are a lot less repercussions from a misplay on Gragas, Sej, etc. once you leap into the enemy team you kind of have to commit since you have no escape, so there's a lot of decision making if you were to play Zac. From the past couple of ranked games I feel as though he's easily one of the top tier junglers again, even if it is almost essentially still the Devourer meta. I've been building full tank and messed around with runes a bit. As it turns out I can carry from the jungle with it as the base damage values are decent enough. With a team that understands to follow up with my ganks or engages it's probably some of the most fun jungling games I've had ever. +1 for Zac.

In lieu of the whole really easy junglers, I guess yeah if you can't land his E then it's no bueno which is probably why he is seldom played in solo queue. More fun for me .

Hey - in case any of you want to get in on the PBE goodness, they are opening it up again to folks.  I VERY STRONGLY (GRRRRRRRRR or something) RECOMMEND looking into this.  It is not easy to get into PBE and you can test out preseason stuff on Nov 3

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/features/pbe-signups-open

man - I've got to work on not getting flustered.  Had a horribly painful game and only managed to call out times like once or twice.  

game 2- improvements in calling summoner timers, but I only keep up during lane phase.  Also, playing like shit tonight.  

game 3 - joke - i play with a d4 vs guys trying out ken/kay bot.  goes like u think it might.  I suck at calling out shite again.  2 guys I queued with said they waiting 41 minutes for the queue... I have no idea.  Maybe higher diamond folks dont' play much tb?  I did have an 8 min dc in the previous game due to AT&T being shite  -maybe that's related - my queue time for support was less than a min tho

game 4 - bleh - I do well in lane with a draven.  I think I maybe roam too much and we get no payoff.  Our top and jungle are crap.  My adc and mid are doing ok, but their mid is a tf, our mid a brand - and our brand doesn't get to push mid if the tf gettings buggering off.  He takes that time to slowly, boots 1 roam.. after a gank has been completed.,.. leaving the mid lane unpushed.  So, I guess my mid was shit... so it was really just me and the draven.. and I left the poor sod.

updating the post above.  Also, the guy d3 guy I mentioned is currently in a featured game playing azir... seems to be featured a bunch. oh and coral is playing ranked - currently gold III solo queue on the climb.

I wouldn't think it would be a game mode that appeals to high elo players.

I guess.  They won't have a choice I think in the future, though.   Ranked TB will replace those high elo players pref this season methinks.  I think its cool to be able to play all roles, but I can tell you I sure as fug don't want to watch NightBlue playing outside of the jungle, trick outside of the jungle, turtle outside of adc, etc.  I think it will elevate the level of play.  

I think there will be a big difference between Teambuilder and Teambuilder 2.0 which I like to call Rolebuilder.

At first I was hesitant about them allowing people to specialize more with the upcoming Rolebuilder as I considered myself a jack of all trades.  The closer I got to Plat, the more I realized what a crappy Jungler/Mid/Top I was.  So yeah, now I can't wait for the new system.

The current Teambuilder is a bit of a joke to me.  It's for people who want to play troll Supports, have Morde Mirror Matches, and to just fuck around with 'fun mode' games cause of the crazy Teambuilder matchmaking that could pit you against a Bronze Support Poppy or a Challenger Ezreal ADC.  Or on occasion, people use it for its intended purpose of learning a new role or champion.

Getting to Diamond probably takes a lot of hard work and dedication no matter how talented you are.  My point was I doubt those people waste much time in the current Teambuilder.  I don't know many Diamond players but I know I never see Cow in that game mode.

Teambuilder games are a complete joke.  Every time I'm in there I see joke games - high ELO people might play it, but you can tell that they generally don't try.

Play it if you want, but you really shouldn't trick yourself into thinking that the results of teambuilder games mean anything - you are in games with a bunch of people who are just screwing around.

Welp, now I remember why I don't play solo queue at Gold ELO.  It is incredibly unpleasant.

So I got screwed in my promos.  Last season I go 8-2 and go from Gold 1 to Plat 1.  This season I go 8-2 and get demoted from Plat 1 to Gold III.  So that makes sense (its because only the first ~3 games in your promos really matter - the last games just move you up or down a total of a few divisions, but the first few games are MASSIVE).

But jungling in Gold doesn't really matter.  Gold players aren't good enough for it to matter.

The purpose of a jungler is to get your team ahead, then be a tank later in the game.  So you can't really carry.  I get my team ahead every single game, but Gold players are too incompetent for that to matter.  10k golds don't matter in Gold - its literally irrelevant.  All that matters in which team has players who throw less hard late game.

I mean, I lost a game where my team had a 13.5k gold lead and 5 dragons simply because we couldn't figure out how to group despite all my pinging.  People just kept wandering all over the map dying 1 by 1 until only I was left.  The fact that I was 10/4/16 didn't really matter when its 1v5.

Thats the thing - getting your team that 4k gold at 20 minutes or whatever by outplaying their jungle doesn't mean anything.  You win gold games by being the person who does the damage in the fights late game, not by doing stupid stuff like getting teammates ahead and being a tank.  Being a tank is stupid in gold because nobody groups anyway if your team is bad, and if your team is good you will just autowin.

So yeah, I'm done with solo queue.  Its a waste of my time.  I remember why I dont play it.  You have to play hundreds of games to get rid of the randomness in jungle in gold, and I'm not willing to invest that just get a different border.  If I mained a damage dealing class I'm sure I could do it in a lot fewer games.

I think that in gold in jungle you are supposed to just screw your team and build straight deeps (jungle Yi etc).  That way you can actually carry.  Its a terrible strategy with competent players, but Gold players are so bad that its probably what you are supposed to do in jungle.

So, I just played an aram.  Won a 4v5.. w/e.  I'm looking at the end game stats and I see me, as a sona, with 1.2k true damage in the stats.  Anyone know what I'm getting true dmg on?

 items