Some questions about summoner!

[Artharian]

I'd agree with Mokeil - it might not be the 'killer job' that'll get you invites to all the best parties ;-) but for me it's one of the most fun jobs. I also like to explore (I've been playing for some time but there are vast areas I've never set foot in!) so with a stack of -perp gear on I can run around with an avatar out all the time; this then acts as my defence when I run straight into a true sight NM or similar and gives me the chance to safely teleport out! :-)
I may be a bit different in my playing - my online time and RL commitments mean I solo a lot of the time and I have less focus on end-game but I find SMN to be well suited to me

And yes - I think it looks flashy as well....

Art.

[Mokeil]

I also like to explore (I've been playing for some time but there are vast areas I've never set foot in!) so with a stack of -perp gear on I can run around with an avatar out all the time; this then acts as my defence when I run straight into a true sight NM or similar and gives me the chance to safely teleport out! :-)

Oh, man! How did I forget to mention that part?! Unlike all of the other pets out there - charmed mobs, jug pets, wyverns, and automatons alike - only our pet will actively move to defend its master. Yea, it sometimes causes problems (any time slept mobs are involved), but it's saved my butt more times than I can count. Eight or so years ago I even worked a /bow <pet> command into my release macros. No one has ever told me to take em out, so there they remain - a simple act of respect for the beings without whom I would be little more than a WHM2.


There was also this one time (true story!) in Ro'Maeve... I was on the way to an XP party behind the Moon gates when I stopped to re-apply Sneak in what should have been a safe area. My loyal Carby, ever on the look out for trouble, starts moving. Nothing should have been close enough to aggro, but, sure enough, Carby is now holding off a dancing weapon. Then I saw the name of the mob. It was none other than the Shikigami Weapon! (Before Abyssea came along, this guy dropped the hands-down best body piece for Summoners. As a 21 hour repsawn NM with less than stellar drop rate and a weird aggro mechanic, competition for this guy was really fierce.)

Pure dumb luck and my loyal Carby got me the claim over a good dozen or so angry Adventurers that day. I wouldn't have had time to out claim any of the other aspirants for it if I was on any other job. (My party eventually reached me in time to help me kill it, but I was not so lucky on the drop rate. Still, for just that one instant, I was King. )