6.1 SMN - highs and lows

With the changes to summoner in 6.0 it’s pretty safe to say there’s been a massive divide in the SMN community. Some love the simplification of the job and the added flavor of actually consistently summoning things; while others despise it and the perceived negative impact on their performance, with some abandoning the job entirely.

Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle. Flavor-wise I love calling upon each of the ARR primals and I very much appreciate that my chosen class is a lot more beginner-friendly. However I can’t help but feel something is missing both in terms of how it feels to play, and actual personal DPS vs party utility - and its hard not to feel more than a little discouraged when people are calling you the “phys ranged” of the magic dps or straight-up a worse RDM.

Since in the latest Liveletter and patch note reading yoship encouraged us users to provide our feedback on the forums, I thought I’d throw in my two cents with what I like vs what I don’t with new summoner.

WHAT I LIKE
- Radiant Aegis. Seriously feel like this one is under appreciated - sometimes I had serious trouble pre-EW keeping myself alive in the over world without a chocobo out between levels 50-70 and hated being forced to switch to Titan-egi just to stay up. This helps a TON with survival.
- Mobility. One of the phys ranged comparisons I don’t mind nearly so much. Summoner gets a ton of instacasts which makes it super useful for movement-heavy mechanics and makes up for it not having much in the way of movement options.
- Raising. The simple act of being able to raise lends a TON to party utility. I love being able to bring back the healers to prevent a wipe or to bring back another party member when the healers need to focus on keeping everyone else alive.
- Searing Light. Love that we get to give a full 30 second buff to everyone! Makes it stand out from the other party-wide buffs. The change to it coming from the summoner is well-needed and makes it even more useful as well.
- Phoenix and Bahamut. Love the changes to bahamut, love the big burst damage, and being able to put a lil mini excog on people is fun and makes me feel like I’m helping out!
- Primal egis. Overall I really like the primal mini-phases. Each makes a lot of sense for each primal’s “feel,” and I like puzzling out which phase is best used when the more I get used to a fight. Also, more summoning for the summoner!! Actually fitting the class description!!! Yeah!!!!

WHAT I DONT LIKE
- Carbuncle just for show. Having a cute pet to fight alongside me is what drew me to the class in the first place. Nowadays carbie just kinda waddles around until another primal is summoned or if you happen to radiant aegis. It makes the class feel a little less alive to me. Even a small auto attack or passive would help.
- Situational healing. Having physick is useful in a pinch below 50, but beyond then it’s completely useless since it doesn’t scale with mind. When we get Phoenix phase, it’s a great extra help, especially during dungeons! However, being on the two minute cycle and only being able to access it in a 15-second window means there’s not much I can do in the realm of planning, especially in high end content. I don’t think physick needs to scale with mind - rather it could transform with a trait to a heal with a cooldown, maybe from a mini Phoenix summon.
- An awkward in-between. Obviously summoner doesn’t do as much damage as black mage and I’m COMPLETELY fine with that - BLM is THE “selfish” caster so it should be doing the most raw dps. I’m also fine with it having less utility than red mage, a class that excels in that respect. But as it stands right now, the utility that summoner has just feels like a lesser red mage - a very situational heal, a Rez that’s only swift every 60 seconds, the only real plus being the party buff - with not nearly enough damage to make up the difference. I don’t have an answer for what exactly I’m looking for to fix this, but maybe what’s needed is something more unique to summoner’s identity, whether that’s in terms of the damage it can deal or the party utility it can offer.
- Too simplified, feeling incomplete. This is the criticism I’ve seen most often and… I’m inclined to agree. With the rework making the class a lot more accessible to pick up its been exciting seeing so many who were turned off by the complexity of 5.0 smn now picking it up and enjoying it. I was charmed at first as well, but the more I’ve played it and other classes this expansion the more I’ve felt something is missing. Compared to other jobs at level 90 there’s less to manage and therefore the skill ceiling is much lower. Personally what I’ve enjoyed the most out of ffxiv jobs are the jobs that are easy to pick up but difficult to master - not so much so that it’s frustrating, but more in that I feel like there’s always something more I can do to improve. Managing resources, weaving abilities, and assisting teammates wherever I can all fall under this umbrella. With current summoner that management is entirely gone - the rotation is practically static and now with the searing light change you never even have to watch where your pet is placed. I don’t feel as if i can push myself to improve any more.
- I can’t glamour the level 90 summons as carbuncles and I’m really sad about that (I know getting big primals is THE summoner capstone but I’m attached to my carbies and I liked the customization LOL)

Despite my current gripes with the class, I love summoner to death and I don’t see myself dropping it anytime soon. I think the changes made to summoner thus have been a step in the right direction, I’d just like to see a middle ground between simplicity and challenge, something taking full advantage of the job’s tasty flavor. To the devs working tirelessly to collect player feedback, thank you very much for taking the time to listen, and thank you for helping to make this game a fun one!