...Riot, I love Soraka to death, but you just got rid of the only reason a lot of people played her. Soraka was the ONLY support, no, only CHAMPION in the game that could give allies mana, which is a huge thing that made her unique. But it's not only just that. Starcall for instance-- I like that you made it so it won't as easily just cs steal or whatever, but Soraka is not made to do damage. That's just not her. She is the "support." She doesn't want to hurt people. And especially considering that you now made it so that she cannot heal herself with Astral Blessing-- what's she going to do if there are no champions nearby? She has no way of healing herself now unless champions are nearby, and I doubt that a Kha'zix will let her smack him with a meteor to get back a little heath before he chops off her head.
Another thing now is that Soraka's New E (also known as Swain's W+Silence), aside from it being no longer original whatsoever, is COMPLETELY useless against non-caster ADC's. Lucian (mid-late), Vayne, Ashe, Caitlyn, Draven, Jinx, Miss Fortune, Quinn, Teemo, Tristana, and Twitch will not be affected by the silence at all, and all of them except Ashe have the mobility to easily get out of the stun spot. So you pretty much just got rid of Soraka's E in laning phase against most Marksmen/ADC's.
The only other thing I have to complain about now is the New version of Astral Blessing. Yes; The lower cooldown is great, even with the range reduction. BUT, Soraka lost her passive that made Wish and Astral Blessing so helpful-- that targets with lower health get healed more. This gets rid of those clutch heal saves, as that tiny bit of health won't help if Kha'zix/Shaco/Rengar/Any Assassin jumps on you. This really gets rid of Soraka's effectiveness against.... ~78% of the champion pool. She has a really weak heal now (except her ult, but that's a really long cd), no mana restore, an easily avoidable by every ADC or mobile champion root, and no way to heal herself without enemy champions nearby.
That's another thing; this new rework will get rid of Soraka's entire lane sustain. Considering that Astral Blessing takes both health AND mana, she'll be using her health and mana to heal her teammates. Okay, now she needs to heal? Try hitting the enemy a few times with starcall. Oh look, Soraka's mana pool is now entirely gone and she can't do... anything but throw bananas.
I don't want to sound mean Riot, but you always say that you try to keep a champion close to their theme and adapt them to the current meta. This is entirely breaking Soraka's theme, and while it may adapt to the new meta, I honestly feel that you didn't really think this through too much, especially considering how you've been borrowing abilities from other champions for a while now, including Soraka's new Equinox. (Which was taken from Swain's Nevermove. Some other borrowed things lately are such as Gnar Taking Vayne's Silver Bolts and Sivir's Boomerang Blade, Xerath's ENTIRE new kit (Q is Varus's Arrow, W is Leona's Ult, E is shorter range Ashe ult), and Skarner's New Passive. (Which is just a slightly different version of Braum's))
I really wish that you would keep to Soraka's true theme, Riot. And I know that you probably won't read this, unfortunately, as you don't have time to browse every single comment on here. But truly, as a person who loves to play Soraka, please... if you're going to rework her, try to stay closer to her theme. Because Rooting, having a truly damaging Q, etc... is not Soraka. Soraka tells you how she should be when she's walking, "To Heal and Protect." To harm and to hurt is not Soraka. Soraka is the truly purest support there is right now, and you're reworking a lot of these supports to be Zyra/Annie copies who have CC and fair damage. I don't want that for Soraka, and I'm sure many others don't either. Please, please.... Try to think this through more before you release it. Please.
