As someone who has been watching pro LoL since season 2, i always remember it fluctuating between early, super snowbally metas and painfully slow and uninteractive late game metas. When people were totally fed up with one of those, Riot would change it to the other but there was no balance between them.
Main reason for that was lack of meaningful comeback mechanisms. When Riot made changes in order to improve early game interaction, the team that was ahead at 10-15 minutes would win the game 9/10 times. So Riot would inevitably lower early game interaction but this just ended up in snorefest 40 minutes with 5-6 kills games.
I would say that this season is the first ever where getting ahead early doesnt guarantee you the win, and late game comps arent the be all end all either. Theres plenty of action (there are times where theres a lull state but with tolerable frequency) but the chances for a comeback are totally realistic as well.
Idk what exactly were the changes that were the catalysts to that, and tbh idc either. What matters is that the current state of the game totally rekindled my passion for pro LoL.
