Subjob for melee SMN?

[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.