That's just not true lmao
I was mostly responding to the person who couldn't find why they had done it, when they provided the rationale. If it was just a popularity thing they could have left everything alone and just threw out more potency until the effort BLM took was more worth the effort over EZmode Picto. Especially since many people will gravitate towards higher performing classes when it comes to higher-end raids, over casuals who may gravitate more towards easier to play classes.
I honestly do not love the direction. I play casters because I like to cast. I always liked the playstyle of Long Cast Times = Big Damage. Now the classes are just all feeling more and more alike.
You know, I felt that way about Paladin when they had the casts removed from Holy Spirit. Sure it was slightly annoying, sometimes, but I loved that it was half-melee half-caster in Stormblood. It did feel good having all the Endwalker spells despite being instant cast, but it makes you wonder if it's still truly a spell if it has no cast. Isn't that what a spell is in an MMO?
I think everyone should lose res because the devs make better fights without it. As seen in BA and DRS. Like, unironically, the devs only having the lever of damage down and killing players is simply bad for the game's encounter design. Not the only thing bad, but a big part of it.
As a long time SMN main who understood that the most recent SMN rework was likely inspired by FF16, and who didn't hate the new changes in 6.0 since I understood the reason why, I will say I *was* disappointed by a few things in 7.0 not coming back like I had hoped they would.
* Bring back Ruin IV charges adding via other actions. I guess SOMEONE out there hated counting Ruin IV in 5.0 SMN but most of us were fine with it.
* Bring back base pet auto attacks from Carbuncles and Egis. Having our little carbies get reduced to flashy spell effects is what gutted the job. Sure, pet management is a pain in the butt, but being able to plop a pet on a target wasn't hard if you knew what you were doing. The Bahamuts and Phoenix don't need them, but the egis don't need to completely disappear once they've done their first big attack, do they? Leave them out to do a few auto attacks, and let them go poof once we've used up all their charges.
I started with SMN, and outside the days when we could solo with a Titan tank egi I don't miss the old version. 6.0 feels the most cohesive over a weird hodge-podge of themes SMN had.
That said, I am disappointed in 7.0. I got a ton of SMN play out of 6.0 and nearly nothing changed, and certainly no real change in what I'm doing. Just very disappointed as this feels uninspired. I mostly moved to PCT since it's newer and more fun at the moment.
It's 100% due to Solar Bahamut. If they had given Leviathan, Ramuh, and Shiva as a new phase Summoner would be number one job played right now period.
Okay, that's hyperbole, but still, I wanted Leviathan, Ramuh and Shiva... If they had just added one additional summoner to the original three that would have been better.
A second set of gem summons after Bahamut(Sapphire Leviathan, Amethyst Ramuh, Diamond Shiva) would have made an incredible amount of sense, and they could have done something slightly different like Turquoise Bismarck and Jasper Ravana(I'm spitballing with those gemstones) as the buildup to Demi-Hydaelyn. It's like they're actively trying to be uncreative, because this seems incredibly obvious.