I am not talking about the champions' viability or strength. To better understand my point, I'll explain what I mean for each champion to better understand my point.
Bard
Riot doesn't seem to understand that Bard is a roaming utility support that has some lategame damage. He is not supposed to be a full damage support with some utility. To give you an analogy, Bard is supposed to be closer to Thresh than Zyra.
Riot doesn't seem to understand this and its infuriating. Instead of capitalizing on what makes Bard unique and fun, they obnoxiously buff his damage till its overkill enough to make him viable.
Let's go back to when Riot were looking to buff Bard. They could've made his W an actual ability (just like /r/bardmains has been asking for so long). They could have capitalized on his roaming and playmaking aspect (and there are so many ways they can do this). Hell they could've buffed him anywhere. What does Riot do instead?
"Here, let's give him enough damage to make him oppressive in lane rather than make him fulfill the niche he is supposed to"
This pattern repeats with Ornn and Ivern.
Ornn
Ornn was such a cool champion concept when teased and I can't tell you how excited I was to play him. I remember seeing the same excitement from the community. There were so many things he could do and the idea of having a playmaking tank (rather than another variation of Maokai) was in itself unique.
Ornn was garbage on release. All he did was throw a telegraphed Q and then hit it with a telegraphed E. His terrain-building itself was laughable because Thresh could achieve the same result using his W to block narrow paths.
At first glance, I thought Riot would buff his utility. Maybe some cooldown buffs on his Q, or actually making his Q useful rather than "the pillar that he uses to land his E". What Riot did instead is make his kit easier to use (let's make him another braindead tank) and buffed his damage till he became not only strong, but oppressive.
Ivern
Ivern is supposed to be a support jungler. I expected him to be more along the lines of Bard. Riot thinks he should be a Janna jungle. I played him a shitton during his release and I loved him so much that I subbed to /r/IvernMains and I was trying to get my level 7.
Instead of making his Q an ability (so he can actually be a jungler), Riot keeps on buffing and nerfing his E until it's strong enough to keep him afloat.
