Subjob for melee SMN?

[Economizer]

It was outside Abyssea, on crabs in the tree.

In that case, Garland of Bliss could possibly come close to or match Cataclysm (with atmas), albeit single target damage. Not exactly useful all the time, but good if /WHM wasn't what you want to use. Ideally, it would allow you to level 3 with some pets, but at least it can do some damage.

[Soranika]

On a side note, I'm curious about the argument against melee SMN that I've been running into quite frequently (and in Razushu's signature). When I first started playing as SMN, the one of the first things I read in a guide was get your hands dirty with Carby and melee too. So I took that to heart and is why I spent time meleeing through leveling when I could. Up until abyssea, I pretty much solo merited Ro'Maeve (or duo with a DNC friend whenever she was on) or when I had my NPC out. I'm well aware a melee SMN isn't quite useful in every situation, not many jobs are, but what's with all the hate? I couldn't help but notice SE's contradiction too in the job manifesto that SMN sit back and let the avatars do all the work, yet SMN, as well as BLM and SCH are the only job that get to use the best physical trial staves.

[Razushu]

On a side note, I'm curious about the argument against melee SMN that I've been running into quite frequently (and in Razushu's signature). When I first started playing as SMN, the one of the first things I read in a guide was get your hands dirty with Carby and melee too. So I took that to heart and is why I spent time meleeing through leveling when I could. Up until abyssea, I pretty much solo merited Ro'Maeve (or duo with a DNC friend whenever she was on) or when I had my NPC out. I'm well aware a melee SMN isn't quite useful in every situation, not many jobs are, but what's with all the hate? I couldn't help but notice SE's contradiction too in the job manifesto that SMN sit back and let the avatars do all the work, yet SMN, as well as BLM and SCH are the only job that get to use the best physical trial staves.

My sig is fun the lulz really. Every job melees at the begining, I took WHM to 31ish solo meleeing, got BLM to 18(with a dagger) the same way. Most people melee when it's worth it exp parties(if allowed), campaign etc. The argument stems from the fact certain people think a backline mage meleeing, can deal close to the damage of a WAR and should melee in every situation, and thats the only way to play.

That's not actually a contradiction, SE never said it wanted Summoner to be a melee/pet job, given our lack of melee traits & abilities cloth armor and traditionally mage-centric main weapon, it's safe to say either we're a backline mage by design, or SE screwed the pooch and we're the worst designed job in history. SE gave us the best staves, because those 3 jobs use staves as a main, and SE has given even the least physically endowed jobs some melee gear. Summoner wasn't designed to be a frontline any more than SCH or BLM was. These 3 get the better staves because the only other staff wielder gets club trials for DD weapons instead.

[Dallas]

True, SE never said they wanted SMN to melee. They have thrown out 3 melee staves in a row for ultimate mage weapons, but they didn't say anything about that. Spirit Taker sounds a lot like a MNK WS, now that you mention it. Resting was so effective for mp, melee just wasn't necessary. [/sarcasm]

People hate melee SMN because BG told them to hate it. That's all there is to it.

[Korpg]

..and here is Dallas chiming in.

melee SMN is only useful in situational fights (no deadly AoE moves/spells or a lot of hate reset moves that also deal a lot of damage). In other words, only on trash mobs.

Anything more challanging than an EM, and the SMN starts losing out on DD ability. Even with Dallas's so-called "perfect SMN melee gear" he still will have an 80% hit rate. And thats giving him food and the benefit of the doubt.

Then we have TP feed to include in this also. Is the 20-100 damage that the SMN hits the NM for really worth the TP feed that same SMN is giving the mob? Would it cause the mob to die faster or the alliance to die faster? That is always the question, which is why you see an alliance of people die to Sobek that a 4 man party can do easier and quicker.

[Malamasala]

Melee SMN is kind of and intelligence test. Nowhere does it say that you can do this, but if you stop and think about it, you'll realize that it is in fact like a match made in heaven. The fact that SMN is the only mage that can cast a spell once, and then live by that spell the rest of the fight, makes it stand out among other mages. Even BLU or DRK have a hard time to match the uninterrupted melee whacking of a SMN.

Then comes the usual problems. Lack of gear will make you hit slower than other jobs, even if they stop to cast occasionally. Lack of WSes with damage on will make you fall far behind in damage output. These two generally are summed up as "Feeding the mob TP". Since your really effective melee job, is really ineffective at damage.

There are some things to remember. Like if you have 4 melee, the monster has 100 TP when they are all at 25 TP... which is almost instantly. Sneak in and melee on SMN, and you have 5 melee, and the monster will have 100 TP the moment your melee has 20 TP. Which in time seen, is such a small difference that it will hardly ever cause more TP spam than it already was.

Other things to remember is that unless you are a taru, it isn't very likely that you'll die in melee range. I've really only died to things like NIN 2 hour move, and those things can hit you if you are incorrectly positioned in the backline as well. That said, I've obviously not meleed things like Orthus.

Most important of all is of course that it is the most fun way to play. Unless you dislike melee of course.