[2020] I feel like the people saying "we don't need more agents" are drastically underestimating the amount of design space there is for character creation

It seems like one of this sub's pet issues is "we need more maps, not more agents" and while I agree that 4 maps is too few for interesting and varied gameplay, I can't help but feeling that people are thinking too small with the kinds of things that characters in this sort of game can potentially do. It's understandable that people compare this game to Counter Strike and think "we've got flashes, smokes, and mollies" and while those kinds of abilities do provide proven and effective utility for the gameplay of a tactical shooter, a variety of agents with drastically different abilities adds an entirely different level to the game. Anyone who has played LoL and has ever done the 5 support comp, or 5 tank comp knows what I'm talking about here. Those examples are cheesy and don't work at the highest levels of competitive play, but even professionally, you see different kinds of team comps (poke comp, deathball, protect the hyper-carry, etc.) all with different strengths and weaknesses that create varied and interesting gameplay.

I'm just going to list out here some examples of types of agent abilities that we might see in the future:

• Ally buffs - Right now we basically have Sage's heal/rez and Brimstone's stim beacon, but there's a ton that could be done here. Damage amplifiers, attack speed amplifiers, movement speed buffs, buffs to ally abilities (making AOEs larger, etc). And multiply all these with the different ways allies can be effected. They can be targeted on a single ally, affect a set part of the map, affect allies near you etc.
• Enemy debuffs - Right now, we have slows, flashes and ares of vision denial, but anything you could do to buff allies, you could do in reverse to debuff enemies. You can also do things like LoL silence (prevent them from using abilities), ways to force displacement of enemies, etc.
• Affecting terrain - Right now we only have Sage wall, but we could potentially have all sorts of terrain generation or terrain destruction. Imagine abilities that let you create a ramp or ladder that let your allies get to places they couldn't otherwise reach, or abilities that open portals through terrain.
• Shields - Abilities that could block bullets, projectiles, or enemy abilities, walls that prevent movement through, but not bullets, etc.
• Trickery - Abilities that create decoys or clones. Abilities that change your character model and even hitbox. Abilities that mess with the enemy minimap, or even comms
• Adding effects to bullets - We see this a little bit with the tracer rounds in spike rush, but you could potentially add any sort of debuff on hit
• Movement - We have teleports, dashes, and jumps already, but we could have agents that walk up or hang from walls or ceilings
• Econ effecting - Characters could have abilities that reduce the cost of ally guns or abilities, agents could start with a particular gun, you could steal money from the opposing team, or increase the amount of money you get from kills or defuses.
• Stacking abilities - Abilities could increase in power as the game goes on, or from kills, spike plants, defuses, or orb collection

Note that some of the things I've listed here are almost certainly unfun, or create play patterns that are counter to the overall design goals of the game (I've avoided mentioning anything "melee" here or damaging abilities for that reason). I'm just rattling off these kinds of things because Riot really hasn't even scratched the surface of the kinds of abilities they could in principle give agents.