Is this where we post your steam accounts for friendships and get Cyborgmatt to carry us?
I don't play support often and find myself dying a lot as Vengeful Spirit. The other team has a Storm Spirit and Spirit Breaker, so every time I go ward/deward, they kill me, maybe I get the ward placed. All I have 47 minutes in is a Basilius, Force Staff, Phase (had two Arcanes on the team already), and Ghost Scepter.
How the hell do I survive and get more farm as a support? I can never do it. I went 2/12/16 on Vengeful Spirit, and I know you all think a non-positive score is garbage. We still won the game but how the hell do I not die? I ask people to go with me to ward, and usually it's only ANOTHER support who's squishy like Bane. Oh, and Bane had Scythe, Force, Mek, and BoTs... I think I bought every single ward we had all game though.
People tell me "just farm the pull camp", and usually the other team contests it and I'm forced away from it, maybe getting the XP if I'm lucky, or the lane partner needs me out in lane. This is why I don't usually play support.
Seriously, I think every player should be forced to play support at least for one game.
You're expected to not take any experience or farm in the lane and then people are angry when you're lower level and have no farm. They want constant ward coverage and the onus is on you to purchase mek, pipe, dust and sentries while they get vanguards and aghanim's. They bitch if you make one mistake which will cost you your life since you're lower farmed and lower leveled then your opponents. When the blame game gets played, supports are usually the first targeted.
Honestly, you're way better farmed than I usually am in games. As for warding, it takes a while but you really have to pay attention to the mini-map and be a good judge of where enemies are likely to be. You'll still get caught out every now and then, it is inevitable, but dying is part of playing the support role.
Also, last hitting is arguably even more important in the hard support position since you have very little time to farm so it's even more important that you get every last hit you can. As others have mentioned, pull the camps in the lane and try to get some early levels and gold through there assuming your lane partner isn't going to be in danger. If they contest then you have to quickly judge whether your partner is aware enough to assist (they usually aren't) in which case you have to bail. The point of your role is to make the game easier for everyone else so even if you're having a hard time, you can still be succeeding overall. Otherwise, you really rely on ganks, surviving teamfights and taking down towers to keep a steady income flowing.
I've been pretty much hard supporting the majority of my games for the last three or so months. It's a thankless job but, as the Bastion announcer says "no one likes to play support but everyone likes to win."
(Also, I'm learning that not all carries are created equally. If you know you're supporting some dead weight it might not be a bad idea to start being greedy and get some farm on yourself if you're a high impact support like Tide or Sand King. Well placed Ravages and Epicentres can win the game even if your Chaos Knight has twenty cs at twenty minutes.)
