Look at vayne. How do you play her at the start of the game? Positioning and focus is all that matters. Now add a bloodthirster, an infinity edge, two phantom dancers and a guardian angel to that vayne. Do all those objects change the way of playing her? Not a bit.
The point of actives is giving some change in how you play based on what you have. Getting the wraiths now means that every two minutes you and your carry can go into the enemy jungle and try to get someone. Crucible means that you should not give your life for your carry, since you can potentially save him from being ccd to death. And ruined king means that it might be a good idea getting closer before starting to shoot, since it can mean a extra nuke and chasing ability.
And knowing how morello balances the game, it is pretty clear that new items are going to be better than the old ones until either the new get nerfed or the older get each one a buff that makes them unique (knowing riot, I bet on the nerf part).
On the carry side of the discussion, being able to 1vs5 does not makes you a jackass if you need to be babysitted for half an hour. And in that case you can't 1 vs 5. To do that, you need to get loads of kills early game while the enemy gets none. The closest comparison to what I mean is a nasus in each team. If one gets free farm and the other doesn't, he can roll his way into victory by himself. But if both nasus have free farm, it comes down to what nasus dies first, which comes dowj to their teamates. And one nasus not getting farm isn't the result of the other nasus doing really well (those guys alone are in a stalemate unless one of them is less fed or does something dumb like not focusing the other nasus). In short,cwhat I mean is that a carry should catabolize how well the team is doing. If you do superb, it should be an assurance of your victory.
And about the bruiser meta. I played in that time. And in the time when mordekaiser was the only viable top. And when sona was the best support by far. It's the thing I hate the most about lol, the metagame. But I shall touch that topic another day, it's too late here.
PD: I just read your last post, and I have to be completely against it. But as I said, I lack the time to answer it the way it should now.