So nobody is going to comment on VW procs--the real reason this is a problem? Pet procs are basically impossible or near impossible to proc, and even then it's usually a waste of time. Outside of VW, who cares...? BST can hold its own without a pet.

SMN is completely useless without a pet so I'm not sure why anyone is comparing them to BST. They're so dissimilar it doesn't make any sense. Or do people actually melee T3 VW mobs with their staff?

PUP is closer to what a BST does, so basically the discussion that we should be having is: what is the difference between a BST and a PUP, and how does that difference play into the summoning of pets. Stop talking about SMN.