I was watching SirActionSlacks stream in a game where a support DC'ed early and they had no courier.
It got me thinking, why is the courier a purchased item? It doesn't really make any sense; it only serves to make one player 100 gold poorer. If that is the only consequence why not just remove 20 gold from each player's starting amount and give a courier? Then at three minutes subtract 30 gold from everyone and make it a flying courier.
Or I think more reasonably, make the initial courier free, then auto upgrade to flying at 3 minutes and any extra couriers cost gold. It seems the last few patches have included quality of life changes for supports, cheaper TP's, cheaper wards etc and cour