So BLM as AOE covered, MNK has single target... What does SMN bring?

[Lilyarel]

Other than being a res slave.
I cant think of one. Backup heal? BM can do that. Utility? Bard does it better.

So what does a Summoner bring thats entirely unique from other classes? Why would I pick a Summoner over something like Bard, Black Mage, or a Monk?

[PROBOUND]

Sustained AOE Dps? I like to think of SMN's as a Casting version of MNK. Sustained DPS over the coarse of a fight.

[Lilyarel]

Sustained AOE Dps? I like to think of SMN's as a Casting version of MNK. Sustained DPS over the coarse of a fight.

But when it comes to AOE I think a BM will do a much better job. (And much faster)

[Maero]

Summoner brings dots which in coarse is what he meant by sustained dps i think.
Blm does have dots but it is not at all the same.
True blm is king of aoe and destroys adds and stuff quickly but in fights that last longer all the difference can be in dots.
Sometimes in certain fights bosses die from dot damage as they are charging up an ability
Also summoner does a nice amount of dmg

[Daweism]

SMN has Virus AND and Resurrect players.

[Sleigh]

SMN has nothing right now. Battle rez is pointless unless you're in Shiva, the one semi-relevant fight you can have more than 2 deaths in succession and come out victorious. Dying so often in T10-13 is more often than not cause for an immediate wipe.

There are multiple topics on SMN being outclassed already though. Everything's been covered basically.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...N-Class-Issues
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...MN-s-need-help!

Hopefully there are buffs in 2.5 but the devs haven't even acknowledged there are SMN issues, even if their testers who played SMN, during the development/testing of FCoB, should have asked for fixes right at the start of 2.4.

[Dyvid]

DPS is DPS and every class has it's own play style. It also depends on what you are running and the type of run, like speed run. From the limited end game stuff I've done though, AoE isn't that big of a deal for things like CT/ST, Primal EX, and certain turns.

[Nux]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...N-Class-Issues
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...MN-s-need-help

Ah yes the issue, lots of my friends asking me why im still going SMN while most SMNs are jumping into BLMs. They told me that SMNs are become increasingly rare (at my server at least). I don't know if there actually a decline in the number of SMN player, but should that arise maybe the dev will acknowledge it. Still waiting for things the will offer for SMN in 3.0 though, but if theres nothing new i may consider other class. SMN isn't particularly interesting actually, I just playing it for the reason of summoner being a "staple" in FF

to stay on topic
Access to Supervirus
Faster Eye rotation
Ability to spread damage to enemies within 25y radius (if your MP allow it)
Battle Res ? (Aint nobody got time fo dat) -not that viable in hard content

[Truedragon]

Every job complains about their job being outclassed.

I just tried out my sub drg on some current content and the damage was sick and so easy to play aswell. Is this what you want?
Remember the Leviathan days? What happened to those SMNs who mass dotted everything in sight and then proclaimed to be king of dps while monks saw their greased lightning dropping during every dive?

Was that "fair" aswell?

[Odowla]

SMN Bring's someone to scream for a Ballad 2 minutes into a fight.

All of their Utility it brought by someone who's already in the party, and their damage is outclassed.

I have outlined a lot of problems starting from this post in the thread Sleigh mentioned.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post2650186