Grasshyren
04-01-2011, 05:56 PM
I've always enjoyed the "Summoner", well I can't call it a job but abilities throughout the Final Fantasys. The idea of calling upon an avatar to come out do some flashy, helpful, or potentially powerful magic was always fun. However in FFXI I find myself fighting with the job more so then enjoying or reaping any rewards from it, becoming very flustered at how all the mechanics just seem to be walls more so then adding to the job. Now I understand that level 34 isn't anywhere near to showing the true potential of the job but I do feel like I've gotten a decent taste of what is to come.
Well let's start from the beginning, whenever I first started back at level 1 I remember the first time I summoned carbuncle and it was a very exciting moment, however things took a turn for the worse. . . I walk up to the monster I see (a worm in the San d'Oria starting area) and hit it with my staff, then carbuncle joins in. I was shocked to see that I had actually done more damage then carbuncle and with a staff even! It was then that I noticed that carbuncle was also draining my mana at a fairly quick rate. So there I was stuck the near useless carbuncle whom is standing there sucking my mana dry and being useless doing it. Well, I though to myself, in the old Final Fantasys summons were only on screen for a short time, maybe they've captured that element into their abilities.
So I level up to 5 by slowly wacking things down with carbuncle and staff in hand. Upon reaching 5 I was once again excited to see what carbuncle could really do! So we attack the nearest enemy and I tell him to cast Poison Nails only to be sadly disappointed again, upon striking the enemy he only did 12-20 damage. I think to myself well it was only 5 mp maybe I can spam it and get in some dps while burning through my mana, however my heart is crushed again this time by the fact that his "Summon" power is on a 1 min cooldown. Well, I think to myself, maybe things will get better with some of the classic summons like shiva and ifrit, so I continue on my summoner quest.
Fast forward about 10 levels, and I have just hit level 15. Armed with carbuncle and now an air elemental in hand, sadly carbuncle is, well himself and the air elemental costing WAYYYY too much perpetual mana to even consider summoning it. Anyways my Blue Mage friend had just gotten her new ability Bludgeon and is level 18, you could only imagine how far my jaw dropped whenever she used this skill for the first time. She walks up to the mob and nails it for a whopping 125 damage! I told her to hold on and watch how carbuncle's Poison nail is hitting for, I order the attack and he hits for an overwhelming 35 damage. Come to find out that her skill is on a ~12 second cooldown, this only added to my frustration. But I had convinced myself that shiva and ifrit MUST make up for this.
Several hours and quest turn ins later I finally have the fame to obtain a few of the avatars. So a high level linkshell member comes to help me obtain garuda, shiva, and titan. After finally obtaining them I use them for the first time, and yet again my heart is crushed. While indeed they are more powerful than carbuncle, their perpetual cost and even the straight mana cost of their skills generally prevent me from using them! I had also found out that the Bloodpact: Rages/Wards have tied cooldowns between all of the avatars, thus putting the final nail in the coffin for any truly active role a summoner could have :(
So here I am now, level 34 in Kazham fighting mandys with Shiva. I spend ~3-4 min per mandy and sit for 1:30-2 min after a single fight while only yielding ~170 xp, so I have to ask:
TL;DR - Leveled to 34 on summoner only to be disappointed I can't contribute more to parties or solo more efficiently due to mana/base damage problems and that the 1 min cooldown on summoner abilities makes me feel like I'm not active enough. But I have to ask:
To all of you before me who have leveled summoner:
- Did you have or notice any of these problems or other problems while leveling (Summons costing too much to use, not doing enough damage, etc)?
- Did you ever have a problem when you ordered your summon to use one of their Bloodpact: Rage that the mob would immediately aggro you until the summon finished casting and is there any way to prevent/solve this?
- Do you find yourself more active at higher levels than you were at lower levels, and if so do you find it to be more fun?
- Is there a particular level that you really started to feel like the summoner could compete with other dps/buffers, or even filled a unique role?
- Do you have any advice for raising fames (In particular Norg/Tenshodo)?
- Finally, is there any other advice you would like to give to starting summoners?
Thank you in advance for any input on this.
Well let's start from the beginning, whenever I first started back at level 1 I remember the first time I summoned carbuncle and it was a very exciting moment, however things took a turn for the worse. . . I walk up to the monster I see (a worm in the San d'Oria starting area) and hit it with my staff, then carbuncle joins in. I was shocked to see that I had actually done more damage then carbuncle and with a staff even! It was then that I noticed that carbuncle was also draining my mana at a fairly quick rate. So there I was stuck the near useless carbuncle whom is standing there sucking my mana dry and being useless doing it. Well, I though to myself, in the old Final Fantasys summons were only on screen for a short time, maybe they've captured that element into their abilities.
So I level up to 5 by slowly wacking things down with carbuncle and staff in hand. Upon reaching 5 I was once again excited to see what carbuncle could really do! So we attack the nearest enemy and I tell him to cast Poison Nails only to be sadly disappointed again, upon striking the enemy he only did 12-20 damage. I think to myself well it was only 5 mp maybe I can spam it and get in some dps while burning through my mana, however my heart is crushed again this time by the fact that his "Summon" power is on a 1 min cooldown. Well, I think to myself, maybe things will get better with some of the classic summons like shiva and ifrit, so I continue on my summoner quest.
Fast forward about 10 levels, and I have just hit level 15. Armed with carbuncle and now an air elemental in hand, sadly carbuncle is, well himself and the air elemental costing WAYYYY too much perpetual mana to even consider summoning it. Anyways my Blue Mage friend had just gotten her new ability Bludgeon and is level 18, you could only imagine how far my jaw dropped whenever she used this skill for the first time. She walks up to the mob and nails it for a whopping 125 damage! I told her to hold on and watch how carbuncle's Poison nail is hitting for, I order the attack and he hits for an overwhelming 35 damage. Come to find out that her skill is on a ~12 second cooldown, this only added to my frustration. But I had convinced myself that shiva and ifrit MUST make up for this.
Several hours and quest turn ins later I finally have the fame to obtain a few of the avatars. So a high level linkshell member comes to help me obtain garuda, shiva, and titan. After finally obtaining them I use them for the first time, and yet again my heart is crushed. While indeed they are more powerful than carbuncle, their perpetual cost and even the straight mana cost of their skills generally prevent me from using them! I had also found out that the Bloodpact: Rages/Wards have tied cooldowns between all of the avatars, thus putting the final nail in the coffin for any truly active role a summoner could have :(
So here I am now, level 34 in Kazham fighting mandys with Shiva. I spend ~3-4 min per mandy and sit for 1:30-2 min after a single fight while only yielding ~170 xp, so I have to ask:
TL;DR - Leveled to 34 on summoner only to be disappointed I can't contribute more to parties or solo more efficiently due to mana/base damage problems and that the 1 min cooldown on summoner abilities makes me feel like I'm not active enough. But I have to ask:
To all of you before me who have leveled summoner:
- Did you have or notice any of these problems or other problems while leveling (Summons costing too much to use, not doing enough damage, etc)?
- Did you ever have a problem when you ordered your summon to use one of their Bloodpact: Rage that the mob would immediately aggro you until the summon finished casting and is there any way to prevent/solve this?
- Do you find yourself more active at higher levels than you were at lower levels, and if so do you find it to be more fun?
- Is there a particular level that you really started to feel like the summoner could compete with other dps/buffers, or even filled a unique role?
- Do you have any advice for raising fames (In particular Norg/Tenshodo)?
- Finally, is there any other advice you would like to give to starting summoners?
Thank you in advance for any input on this.