I was reading Doublelift's Blog that he started and the first line in it really caught my attention.I had been feeling for some time that AD carries were weaker, but I thought maybe I was getting worse or I was playing with better people, but since one of the premier AD carries in the world voices this same opinion (almost certainly had it before me too) I wanted to make a post about it.I wanted to write about why ADs are much weaker than they were before since the Season 3 changes, but I would much rather outline which champions I feel are much too strong at the moment.
So from my experience during season 3 playing AD carries, I feel significantly weaker than I did in season 2. This is partly because of the item changes that made AD slightly cheaper and made AS cheaper. Which in my opinion has led to the rise of caster ADs like Ezreal, Miss Fortune and to some extent Graves.AD carries with short range, i.e. Vayne feel much more difficult that before. Vayne still has that tank destroying capability, but she has to be within range to do it, and it is usually horribly painful to get that close to a team of bruisers. Vayne was always a difficult champion, but I feel like she is much harder now, but that's beside the point.
The main two reasons of the feeling that ADs are weaker than before in my opinion are: Warmogs and the bruiser fotm "meta."
I'll start with Warmogs. In the season 3 patch they made basic resists, mr and armor, more expensive and made health cheaper. They have tuned this a little bit, but I still feel like health is too good. Junglers and top lanes have the option of building their starting items then going straight for a Warmogs. In season 2 this would have made you a meat shield but you would have had no real presence. Due to it and AD being cheaper now, bruisers are able to get the Warmogs much earlier and still be relevant.
For a simple price comparison, Warmogs currently has a cost of 2650g, where as a Bloodthirster has a cost of 3000g, and is being increased to 3200g in the next patch I believe. (I could be wrong on the increase price, but on the pbe it is currently more expensive) So you have a bruiser with a warmogs and a smattering of small items, and an AD carry with a dorans blade, some boots and a bloodthirster, or maybe just parts of a blood thirster and dragon fights start to break out. I feel almost completely useless if I'm not kind of fed from bottom lane. Most ranged ADs simply cannot survive the bruiser onslaught in the early levels. Olaf is a problem espically. He is getting nerfed, but right now there is very little you can do outside of flashing away to escape him when he has his ult up. Yes he is fairly easy to kite when it is down, but you don't usually live that long.
The other thing, is the "bruiser meta." While APs are still completely viable, AD casters/assassins/bruisers are ending up in mid lane much more often than they used to, meaning teams often completely forgo magic damage. In season 2 the obvious choice was to get some armor on your team and just try to mitigate the damage, but it doesn't work as well now. The bruisers that are played mid also tend to have gap closers that allow them to jump onto the AD carry with ease. While the AD carry should position properly and not go in until the ccs and gap closers have been used it is sometimes unavoidable. For example, a team with jungle Xin Zhao, mid Jarvan and a support leona is an absolutely terrifying thing to play against as an AD. In season 2 this was an extremely powerful dive comp, but it seems to have only gotten better. There are many examples I could give here, but I feel like one suffices.
So I feel kind of pigeon holed into playing Ezreal, MF, or Caitlyn right now. Ezreal because he can build as an AD caster and not even worry about getting crit until his 4th-5th item if he wants, and still get excellent damage off of his Qs. Miss Fortune is currently popular for her ultimate with AoE comps, and she has a strong laning phase. Caitlyn is good to me right now because of her range. It lets her stay that little extra bit out of the fight, and reduces the chance that you are just going to get gibbed. I know proper positioning is incredibly important, but often times you are just forced to run and gun, and spend a lot of your time furiously kiting in team fights.
Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit or putting the blame on the wrong things, but I would like to know your thoughts on the matter. To recap, AD carries feel less powerful, and more difficult than they were in season 2, due to the early stacking of health and the "bruiser meta."