[dev1022] Unofficial 6.0 Summoner Feedback thread

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Originally Posted by Dyvid

*Elementary Mastery is a very key skill in understanding SMN's place and without it, the job is very dulling. I would say move the trait to at least between level 64 through 73.

*While different, Crimson Cyclone/Crimson Strike is annoying since I don't have a feature to move back out of melee range. Why not let Crimson Cyclone be the dash forward and Crimson Strike be a jump back?

*Ruby Ifrit and Topaz Titan use Inferno and Earth Fury at range yet Ifrit Egi and Titan Egi slow drift toward the target to cast the enkindle. Either have them cast at range as well or give pet increase speed.

*Ruin IV spell feels off and would be nice if you could just make it and oGCD ability

*Aetherflow is a dead mechanic and unnecessary in this new design. Wouldn't be easier to just delete it all together and give Fester / Painflare 3 charges over the course of 1 minute?

*Please remove Searing Light and Radiant Aegis from Carbuncle. It a pain to use while casting summon after summon.

*On the topic of pets, removing Sic basically makes pet a useless minion that has no real purpose outside of appeasement. Why can't Summon Ifrit II call forth Ruby Ifrit then re~summon Ifrit Egi after to do auto attacks until the next Summon Spell?

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These would all be a good start.

More festers/painflares and Ruin 4 being oGCD would do wonders. Really feels like we could use more oGCD's.

Another little tweak might be giving back building Ruin 4 stacks when doing fester/painflare. These could either be more Ruin 4 casts or expended for a damage buff when casting Ruin 4 to give that part of summoner mechanics more body and give back the sensation we are building up to our maximum dps window.

Finally the current three summons, Bahamut and Phoenix could use a little number tweaking to make them more distinct. Sure, they all have their identity (after lvl 86 mostly, but eh, that is a different issue), but only Ifrit feels really distinct imho. If they become more distinct, a specialized tool, another possible application for the aetherflow system could be extending or resetting your elemental attunement to maximize our adaptability.

In that vein, why not let us choose whether we go Bahamut or Phoenix first?

Do Ruin 3 and the basic AOE really need to be different buttons from our elemental attunement nukes? Why not let them morph during summons like they do during trances? Sure, I can see why you would like them, mostly as a fall-back when going into Ifrit at the wrong moment, but it also devaluates having made that choice in the first place.

All in all, all the basic pieces are here to make SMN unlike any other job, just needs some minor adjustments.

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Originally Posted by Dyvid

*Aetherflow is a dead mechanic and unnecessary in this new design. Wouldn't be easier to just delete it all together and give Fester / Painflare 3 charges over the course of 1 minute?

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It does have the sort of feeling that it's going out the door, but this is also currently one of the most satisfying parts of SMN for me, the extra burst and weaving on every Bahamut/Phoenix summon and that explosive opener we get because of it.

I've played SMN since Stormblood and loved how that iteration tied Aetherflow into DWT/Bahamut aesthetically, as well as how DWT was flexible in use within the 1 min cd of Aetherflow. EW has returned that feeling somewhat thanks to the choice of rotation with the summons, so now it's just missing the feeling of a busy rotation.

I agree with the suggestion of having an Aetherflow cap of 3 and think it would be nice to get it from summoning Bahamut/Phoenix. An ambitious side of me would also love to get 1 from summoning Ifrit/Titan/Garuda for a total of 6 per minute (with potencies adjusted to avoid being overpowered of course, this is purely about gameplay). An even more ambitious side would like an extra Aetherflow OGCD option and for the Aetherflow abilities to also change with our summons, for a little on the fly decision making about which attunement you want to spend the stacks under rather than these just being extra empty Fester casts.

I am bored and I have time, so I might as well conntribute.

I have said it before in other threads, but SMN feels really simplified prior to level 86. The job is child's play, really. After 86, the job seems to come into its own as a late bloomer, which is okay for me. My only negative complaint about the job in its current state is that I feel something needs to be done to make the job more engaging before level 86.

I was saddened by the removal of DoTs, but it was a long time coming. DoTs were feeling more tacked on to the SMN identity after Bahamut and Phoenix were introduced. Tri-Disaster also made keeping DoTs on targets easy and they were not very visual, so it is not like DoTs meant much in the fun department. Closer to the end of Shadowbringers, I was finding my DoTs to be an annoyance, really.

After level 86, I am a big fan of the new three summon phases. Changing between the phases keeps me engaged in battle and each of the phases adds personality to the job. Titan's Mountain Buster and Ifrit's Crimson combo are memeworthy. And when the three elementals change at level 90 to full-sized primals, I feel strong and I like that.

I cannot complain about how much more mobile the job is now, either. SMN was the mobile caster before and now it is even more mobile, which gives a caster job choice to players who hate standing around feel the need to move around a lot.

I do not see this mentioned much, but I am a fan of the Enkindle changes for Bahamut and Phoenix. Prior to the change, trying to smash two of the Enkindles into each phase was stressful. It was easy to do, but it still gave me slight anxiety every phase because it was easy to mess up.

I am generally happy with the new SMN and I am excited to try it out in high tier content.

Also like to add

Let Searing Light be useable outside of combat.

I think a better aproach would be switch rekindle and searing light, we get a party tool every 1 min or 2 and we get a raid boost on dps every phoenix phase