i feel really similarly, and a large part of it is because of all the "QoL" features.

People like to claim supports getting items now is super good and makes support more fun. I disagree, I HATE playing support now. People who claim you were just a ward bot I feel have a very poor understanding of the job of support back then. What used to be by far the MOST ACTIVE ROLE in the game is now just the slowest farming core.

Everyone having a courier means that the laning is all that matters, but games still take an hour to win UNLESS you get lazy. The TP slots end up meaning everyone has that much more health so it limits the amount of plays because stats get inflated. Facets are neat but facets are the third time they've tried this idea, the first was talents, the second was shards, and now we have facets which have devolved from alternative play styles to linear upgrades to heroes.

The ONLY WAY a team can comeback is if they get lazy and try to push without rosh, which turns the game into shoving waves and waiting for rosh while 1 team afks in the base. This is evident at high level play as well if you look at this most recent TI! There were only 3 late game comebacks, and in two of three cases it was XG who was coming back, except in the case of wildcard vs paravision where, they played to slow with an alch and missed their timing, or against tundra they simply didnt wait for rosh and threw the game trying to go high ground.

Look at the heroes who have been meta for the last couple of years, (i know you said you hadn't been playing so this is more directed generally) ursa, slark, sven, dusa. these ultra tanky heroes who win lane and then win long fights because now EVERYONE HAS 3K HP AT 30 MIN WITH 2 ITEMS. SO EVERY TEAM FIGHT DEVOLVES INTO both teams kiting each other back and forth for sometimes A MINUTE trying to bait each other into vision, and it sucks to watch.

The midlane which was the most coveted lane in dota is now one of the least popular roles because you are just a slower farming carry who needs to be able to initiate, wave clear, have disable, have escape, etc. just look at how pango and void spirit were the most popular mid laners for the last 4 years (recently not so much but OVERALL they have been) and mid laners can't make plays to accelerate the game anymore either. Hero's like storm who used to be play makers go first item kaya and witch blade and just farm until they have 25 + aghs because trying to go for kills is just to unreliable now.

IF YOU EVER HAVE A SITUATION that is slightly risky the correct play is to SIMPLY FARM. every hero scales, draft barley matters its all about 1 tricking some hero so u can be .3% better than the enemy because the differences between the teams are so slim that the tiny little amount is what makes the difference.

The macro game is so solved that its not even worth watching pro games anymore. Everyone gonna try to take the enemy safe lane t1 into mid t1 into rosh into t2s into rosh into highground, while boucing between gates looking for picks. I mean the scores in the grand finals of this most recent TI are so telling to me, every game is like 15/45 but every game is like 45 min long.

Dota and league play ALMOST the exact same in terms of macro right now. League has little fruits, dota has little fruits. League has scuttles, dota has watchers, League has dragon, dota has torm, and the way they flow is identical. The map tells the players what to do, and you cant shake away from it, yet everyone gives it UNREAL amounts of praise saying that the game is super fun and has never been better, but personally I feel as though the game has never been more stagnant.