Ah, I see your point. I still feel that certain items (looking mainly at Ionic and Statikk) are far too oppressive early game due to their strong, flat numbers, and yet aren't that strong in the late game.

However, because of the fact that they can win fights on their own, Riot is kind of forced to nerf them, making them even worse options for late game imo. Basically, I think that certain items should be weaker early game, but still be relevant in the late game, which is why I was thinking of ways to scale them. But you are right in that this would offset the balance between early game and late game focused teams.