Originally Posted by
Jerbob
Going to make my usual reminder that SMN in XI hasn't been this way for nearly a decade and is still going strong. SMN's myriad difficulties back then were due to bad scaling systems and an almost complete back of gear with Pet bonus stats, perpetuated by developers who seemed to not know how to make a pet job work; the fact that it works well now demonstrates that the problem was not with the pet-focused theme of the job.
With regards to Bahamut, I think this embodies the problem I have with XIV's SMN. SE have repeatedly said in the past that a pet-focused SMN wouldn't work because of the size of the summons, among other things, and this goes some way to proving that was at least in part a lie. It's not around for long, but it's there. This Bahamut just illustrates that they can do anything they want to. They choose to make SMN the way it is.
Watching the video again, I can't help but notice that the green skeleton-bird still does almost nothing. The most exciting thing it does is die. I also can't help but notice that 90% of what's happening is the character throwing direct spells at a target. 20 seconds of a (admittedly really good looking!) Bahamut summon, most of which is filled with hurling spells out of a book, doesn't make SMN any more appealing for me; instead, I'm frustrated for what it could have been all the more.
I know that a lot of people are super excited about this, and I'm happy for you all! I was just hoping for something a bit more fundamental to change. I knew it was a futile wish, but they often are.