I got a friend to try FFXIV and he picked Arcanist as a starting class. He had a lot of questions which really got me thinking about how weird this class is.
He immediately gets access to Summon Carbuncle but it literally does nothing but follow him around. Why does ACN/SMN even have a pet bar at this point?
He can kill things faster by spamming Ruin than using Aethercharge and Summon Ruby. Also Ruby Ruin looks exactly like normal Ruin. It supposedly does fire damage, shouldn't it at least be red or something?
Suggestion: Why not just throw Carbuncle in the rotation like Ifrit/Garuda/Titan? Then replace Summon Ruby with Summon Carbuncle and have it use i dunno, Searing Light, and then Ruby Ruin could be Holy Ruin or something.
I assume they just didn't care cause you're only an Arcanist for a little while but its super unpolished and awkward.
Arcanist is weird
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10-25-2023, 04:02 AMwylantarArcanist is weird
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10-25-2023, 06:00 AMKalaam
That's kind of a side effect of the SMN rework, a lot of abilities in the rotation at low level are just recolored ruin essentially. it's very weird to play.
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10-25-2023, 07:25 AMGgwppinoNot that It changes much at 90Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalaam
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10-25-2023, 01:40 PMRenathrasThe irony to me about that, that in particular, is that it's not like we don't have tons of orange fire ball, purple lighting ball, and CNJ's Stone 1 animation (just do 1 stone instead of 3) that they could have used.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalaam
I love new SMN, personally, but I do feel like they missed some easy opportunities there. Even just a slight color tint to each would be nice. Not sure why they didn't do it other than maybe just didn't see it would have much point since you level out of them eventually. But like Fire 1 and Ruin 1 use effectively the same animation, just with a different color. Seems it would have been pretty easy to just do a couple more colors. If they wanted to keep it distinct (not that SCH's Broil II isn't just 4 Fire I's in a trench-coat as it is...), they could have made the core black and just the aura around them red/yellow/green...but whatever. -
10-25-2023, 04:55 PMChasingstars
I think you may want to reread aethercharge. It literally boosts their Ruin damage by 50 potency, so from 240 to 290. In addition Ruby Ruin is 340 potency, which is 100 potency higher than your base Ruin when you exit out of aethercharge.
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10-25-2023, 05:04 PMRongwayAethercharge proper is a 0p GCD though, so the 50p it adds to each Ruin only nets a total of 10-60p once you account for the lost Ruin. Aethercharge's value is not in what it adds to Ruin but in unlocking the summons, and that value is funny at times, with the values of each element varying wildly over the course of SMN's career.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chasingstars
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10-25-2023, 06:04 PMKalaamThat's the funny thing, it highlights that the level 90 version is the same just with flashier effects but in essence has no gameplay distinction.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ggwppino
It's like pre-90 SMN is a beta version using placeholder assets. -
10-25-2023, 08:07 PMChasingstarsExcept raw numbers from potency value are different than what you get at later levels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rongway
I hop on with my level 34 test summoner, there was only a difference of 40-60 damage per ruin 2, as I was going from 160 to 220 in damage. Which is what you would expect from an ARR ruin.
Meanwhile when I get on my level 90 the difference of averages on 11000, 16000, or 20000 based on whether or not its ruin, bahamut-ruin, or phoenix-ruin. Which is only a difference of 340 to 440 to 540 in potency. Which honestly still looks the same except its just a big number if two extra zeroes are filed off as the ARR example.
The original poster makes it out like its some weird anomaly, when that is just the squished math of ARR. -
10-25-2023, 09:23 PMSilverquickYes this actually is the only part of the new Summoner that needed a little work.Quote:
Originally Posted by wylantar
Arcanist used to be a pet class. Those Carbuncles used to be actual pets, the Yellow Carby was a tank pet (with provoke), the Red Carby was a mage pet and the Blue Carby was a melee/healer pet. Now that they don't do anything anymore It kinda takes away from pretty much everything the Arcanist was, leaving it little more than a Ruin spamming class with no other function other than that.
This really is where the class needs a little more complexity. Once you get to 60th, it smooths out and plays a little better. Once you get to 70th it starts to finally make sense. but still doesn't really start getting fun to play until 86th level where it becomes a true summoner.
They really need to add extra powers for the Carby on those Enkindle/Deathflare Buttons the way they do at 86th, for the Titan/Garuda/Ifrit powers at 86th, akin to the Slipstream, Mountain Buster, and Crimson Cyclone moves.
The criticisms people have about this class ARE True... but ONLY at pre-86th.
Once you get this thing to 86th level its actually really fun to play and does require some pre-thought and skill. Its just all the things prior to that where the criticisms are true. -
10-25-2023, 10:10 PMPost
They didn't think current SMN through. Everything about it other than the 86 actions are vestiges of what it used to be and either don't fit (Carbuncle) or extremely tenuously fit (Energy Drain and its spenders, including Ruin 4).
They gave it so little thought that they still had Aetherpact tied to Carbuncle when he disappears immediately in their rotation and is gone for 15 sec of Bahamut + 4 sec of whatever you choose next (if not more because you're not 90 and your Egi has to hoof it over to your target) and that it actually got weaker when it went from 79 to 80 and you were forced to use the inferior Firebird until they fixed these when pointed out (you could literally tell both issues just by reading tooltips before the expansion and rework released).
Even now, it loses functionally going from Aethercharge/Dreadwyrm Trance to Summon Bahamut; you could do the other two actions without a target, so you could use them preemptively if there's not anything to attack in range currently, but even that minor complexity gets filed down in case someone might cut themselves on it.
That's not to say that ACN's leveling experience being weird is unique to EW, though. It was weird as hell in ShB too, when Bio 1 did 200 potency over 30 seconds and Miasma did 220, both next to Ruin 1's 180 potency. The difference is that it still had reasons to use DoTs outside of their damage alone (Fester), and as it leveled it got new ways you could apply your DoTs (Bane, Tri disaster, DWT resetting Tri Disaster), so it's core actions actually interacted with its kit instead of just being stapled on like they are now. ACN/SMN leveling got good after 56 in ShB (as opposed to 86 in EW), but it hasn't really made sense since StB.
Today, giving it analogues to its 86 actions early might make it even more dull, though, because then you would get nothing but flashy effects all the way to 90. The job just really doesn't have much going on. It's like they implemented half its rework and said 'that's good enough. We'll do the rest later; don't want to have to make up new stuff for the expansion in a couple years.' -
10-26-2023, 03:36 AMSilverquickI actually think the Aetherpact kinda fits with the way they changed Arcanist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Post
Originally it was even wierder prior to Stormblood, back then it was actually more of an EQ Necromancer combined with Summoner (the Carbunkle/Egis). There you had 5 DoTs, 2 Bios and 3 Miasmas that all stacked, you had Bane which spread them out in an AoE, then you would use Garuda's "contagion" ability to extend the timers by 10 seconds.
It was always Ruin-based. Because your Ruin increased in potency by the number of DoTs stacked on the target. It took a while to spin it up, but once all the DoTs were stacked and you were spamming Ruin it was actually really good DPS.
They were removing that throughout Stormblood and SHB. What you saw in Stormblood and SHB were just the last vestiges of that. And only a small portion.
In Endwalker they totally removed that function other than very small names like Fester and Painflare. Aetherpact was not originally attached to the Dreadwyrm Trance. That was a Stormblood addition.
We knew they were slowly removing the Necromancer part of the Arcanist over time. We just didn't see the full results until now.
Problem being... those Necromancer abilities and Pet abilities were a LARGE portion of Gameplay for the Class as a whole.
It is OK to link Aetherpact to the Carbuncle summons... the problem is making up for all that extra gameplay that used to be a part of the class. You went from a full rotation of 5 DoTs + Pet Actions + Ruin Spam to just... Ruin Spam with only an occasional Aetherpact every 30 seconds or so for 3 former Pet Enkindles. That is why it is so plain and boring and just... one button spam.
It was ok to do the Aetherpact thing... BUT... they still need to make it more than just Ruin Spam on the Aetherpact Summons.
Hence why I suggested Carbuncle/Egi powers for the Deathflare/Enkindle buttons during the Carby Summons so its not just Ruin Spam, Ruin Spam, Ruin Spam. That's why I said the criticisms are actually right at early levels now. -
10-26-2023, 07:08 AMRongwayThis reply is largely irrelevant to what I said, though. The topic was specifically Aethercharge. Summon Bahamut and Summon Phoenix were never in question in this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chasingstars
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10-26-2023, 10:12 AMSieyaM
They absolutely could have, or even still could, given ruin some kind of version of fire/stone/aero instead of just using the ruin animations until level 72. Getting the aetherflow abilities at 86 does fill out the rotation and overall I do enjoy playing summoner when I do, but there is definitely room for more which I am hoping is what they are working towards with future expansions.
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10-27-2023, 12:24 PMRenathrasWait, what?Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverquick
Titan/Topaz was a tank until ShB made them untargetable (and we got Aegis to try and "mimic" that tanking aspect), true...but the rest? Blue Carby was the base one and cast a ranged wind spell. It didn't melee or heal. And there was no Red Carby. At level 30 you got Ifrit without ever getting a Ruby Carby. You only had blue and yellow. Then as you kept leveling, yellow upgraded into Titan nugget and blue upgraded into Garuda. And there was never a healing one at all. Physic just didn't suck since 1-50 caster/healer gear from dungeons and quests and drops and crafting was all one set, so it had MND and INT on all the pieces, making Physic not suck, and I think SMN could access Cleric (not that it was useful since it swapped INT and MND stats but also did like a 20% nerf to healing...still clutch, but not overall useful.)
The only pet that really worked as a pet (that is, that you heavily interacted with and could change your gameplay) was Topaz/Titan since you could use it to tank some 4 man stuff if your Tank KOed or DCed and do single trash pack pulls, and when doing so, you would use Sustain to keep its health up, supporting the healer keeping it alive.
I do agree the level 86 stuff should be way lower, like level 60 or so. Or gain them as you go. Titan, in particular, feels "empty" without the 1-2 of the oGCD rocks since his main attack is instant cast but 2.5 sec CD. Garuda's 1.5 sec doesn't feel as empty, and Ifrit's casts and 1-2 charge/slam combo are separate from each other (not weaves) so doesn't feel bad either. But if they added Titan's earlier (say level 50 or 60) then Ifrit's later and finally Garuda's, instead of all at once at level 86, it would probably feel a lot better. Part of that was them wanting "new stuff" for EW, but once we get out of EW, they can do that (like how WHM's Solace is now level 52 or so, and I feel like there are other things they lowered the level on after the expansion they were released in was over.)
I agree SMN is fun to play and not a bad class at all, but the leveling could use a little love.
EDIT:
Honestly, I prefer that. Jobs should have most of their core kit down by level 50 or 60. Additions after that should just be minor tweaks to the rotation or additional oGCDs. Otherwise you have the problem like BLM where your rotation constantly changes based on what level range you're synced into, or PLD where half your rotation is just NOT THERE when you sync.Quote:
Originally Posted by Post
Contrast WAR, which has its full rotation more or less by level 50. The only real change you get later is Primal Rend. Everything else is upgrades and charges to things. RDM is another good case since its rotation is effectively complete at level 60 once you get Manification and Embolden, after that all you add are Holy/Flare, Scorch, and Resolution (button presses after the melee combo with the only one you think about at all is whether to use Holy or Flare), Reprise which you almost never use, and...that's...kind of it.
I do like that SMN doesn't radically change as it levels, making it more like RDM/WAR and less like BLM/PLD, which is a good thing. They feel a bit less empty while leveling and they don't teach bad habits to players or play your muscle memory against you when you do synced content. That's better design, not worse design. -
10-27-2023, 07:08 PMfulminating
I disagree about warrior being complete by 50. Inner beast is strictly weaker than the storm's attacks, there is more gauge management as you only get the next 3 attacks direct critting under berserk rather than free gauge, the infuriate cooldown discount adds up to being fairly significant over a 2 minute stretch and I can't bring up gauge management for upheaval/onslaught because that went. I'd agree if you said 70 though, it hardly changes after that.
Next point is going to be I kind of like how black mage has a different feel at different level thresholds. I mainly play it in alliance roulette so that is probably a factor, but not knowing if I'm getting the relatively immobile proc based 50 rotation or more mobile (triplecast) fire 4 70 version is fairly fun. I liked the same in summoner, although at least a bit of that was being able to stand on the pad in lota and have my pet attack atomos helping make it feel less boring.
I don't think there's a correct answer, but an opposing perspective might be useful. -
10-27-2023, 09:39 PMSilverquickNo I distinctly remember 3 Carbys. One was a melee attacker only, one was the tank, and one was the mage that threw wind like Garuda.Quote:
Originally Posted by Renathras
Except you might be right about the colors. I seem to remember one Blue, one Green, and one Topaz. The melee pet had something like Carbunkle Gemstone or something like that which was either a heal or a regen. But he didn't provoke. While the Topaz carby was the Tank. Which is it actually true that you used this one exclusively except in dungeons. In dungeons because his Provoke would interfere with the Tank you had to use one of the others or they'd get pissed.
I said Ruby because I cannot account for the Green color one. So I thought my memory might be a little off since this was back in 2017 and I was playing on a different character than I am now. But they may have only added Ruby when they did the egi-glamours.
Still... bottom line here is... we do seem to agree where this job needs some work. -
10-28-2023, 02:04 AMKimmay
There were only ever 2 carbuncles, until /egiglamour. Emerald Carbuncle, that became Garuda Egi and Topaz Carbuncle that became Titan Egi. Both of those Carbuncles used renamed, weaker versions of every ability their Egi counter used. Summon 3 (Ifrit Egi) was Smn exclusive, and thus no Ruby Carbuncle was required. At no point ever has there been a Carbuncle that could heal, because at no point ever has there been an Egi that could heal. Smn has only ever had Physick, Sustain (for the pet), and Drain to heal. The blue Carbuncle, simply named Carbuncle, came with the rework as the default Carbuncle.
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10-28-2023, 02:56 AMLilimoLimomo
FF14 does have a bit of a time-honoured problem of reworking classes in a way that messes the class up at early levels. Personally, I think level 90 SMN is one of the best designed classes in the game, but the early game experience with the class is definitely a bit clunky.
I don't want to be too hard on the devs, because I recognize that if you want to add new skills without bloating the buttons (especially for controller players), you need to remove some abilities as well; that's certainly a complex balancing act where you're unlikely to get everything you want.
I won't pretend to know the solution, just wanted to weigh in that it's a problem worth acknowledging, while also acknowledging the problem it's attempting to imperfectly solve. -
10-28-2023, 03:53 AMSilverquickNow I'm starting to remember it, actually we're both right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimmay
That 3rd pet was the one that replaced Ifrit when you pulled your Summoner Stone. Most people never saw it or ever used it because they went Summoner without ever sticking to arcanist. -
10-28-2023, 08:54 AMMikey_RArcanist only every had access to Summon and Summon II, which are emerald/topaz Carbuncles respectively. Summon III, which is Ifrit Egi is only available to Summoners and you can only become a Summoner after you have completed the Job Quests, which also gives you Summon III.Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverquick
Arcanist never learned Summon III in any capacity. -
10-28-2023, 10:13 AMRongwayBack to this topic for a moment, as I've taken a bit of time to think of why Aethercharge is particularly bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rongway
First, its evolutions, which are mostly not problematic:- Dreadwyrm Trance - Ignoring the first two levels, gains Deathflare and then Dreadwyrm Trance is immediately worth 500p, on its own making up for the lost Ruin.
- Summon Bahamut - Immediately worth a Deathflare and an Akh Morn.
- Summon Phoenix - Immediately worth a Revelation.
Aethercharge and Dreadwyrm Trance during its first two levels each cost a GCD without providing an oGCD that can immediately make up for that lost GCD. Do they make up for the lost GCD over the course of their duration by increasing the potency of Ruin, and then after their duration by enabling the elemental summons? Yes, of course. But their immediate effect is lost DPS.
Comparisons of pure Ruin spam vs Aethercharged Ruin spam:
Code:Lv6-29 Potency Running Charged Potency Running Difference
Ruin 240 240 Aethercharge 0 0 (-240)
Ruin 240 480 Ruin 290 290 (-190)
Ruin 240 720 Ruin 290 580 (-140)
Ruin 240 960 Ruin 290 870 (-90)
Ruin 240 1,200 Ruin 290 1,160 (-40)
Ruin 240 1,440 Ruin 290 1,450 10
Ruin 240 1,680 Ruin 290 1,740 60
Lv30-53 Potency Running Charged Potency Running Difference
Ruin II 270 270 Aethercharge 0 0 (-270)
Ruin II 270 540 Ruin II 320 320 (-220)
Ruin II 270 810 Ruin II 320 640 (-170)
Ruin II 270 1,080 Ruin II 320 960 (-120)
Ruin II 270 1,350 Ruin II 320 1,280 (-70)
Ruin II 270 1,620 Ruin II 320 1,600 (-20)
Ruin II 270 1,890 Ruin II 320 1,920 30
Lv54-57 Potency Running Charged Potency Running Difference
Ruin III 300 300 Aethercharge 0 0 (-300)
Ruin III 300 600 Ruin III 350 350 (-250)
Ruin III 300 900 Ruin III 350 700 (-200)
Ruin III 300 1,200 Ruin III 350 1,050 (-150)
Ruin III 300 1,500 Ruin III 350 1,400 (-100)
Ruin III 300 1,800 Ruin III 350 1,750 (-50)
Ruin III 300 2,100 Ruin III 350 2,100 0
Lv58-59 Potency Running Charged Potency Running Difference
Ruin III 300 300 Dwyrm Trance 0 0 (-300)
Ruin III 300 600 A. Impulse 440 440 (-160)
Ruin III 300 900 A. Impulse 440 880 (-20)
Ruin III 300 1,200 A. Impulse 440 1,320 120
Ruin III 300 1,500 A. Impulse 440 1,760 260
Ruin III 300 1,800 A. Impulse 440 2,200 400
Ruin III 300 2,100 A. Impulse 440 2,640 540
Lv60-69 Potency Running Charged Potency Running Difference
Ruin III 300 300 DwT + Dflare 500 500 200
Ruin III 300 600 A. Impulse 440 940 340
Ruin III 300 900 A. Impulse 440 1,380 480
Ruin III 300 1,200 A. Impulse 440 1,820 620
Ruin III 300 1,500 A. Impulse 440 2,260 760
Ruin III 300 1,800 A. Impulse 440 2,700 900
Ruin III 300 2,100 A. Impulse 440 3,140 1,040
As you can see, if we consider only the Aethercharge portion of the rotation and nothing else, Aethercharge is a loss from the moment you get it all the way until Lv60. Worse, it becomes more of a loss at Lvs 30 and 54. It literally, objectively gets worse at those two levels!
And this is considering someone who is able to get all 6 Ruins into one Aethercharge. I have 40ms ping most days and I can only get a 6th Ruin if I have a 2.48s or faster GCD. There are probably people who can never get that 6th ruin, and for them Aethercharge is only a 10p gain with Ruin I and a complete loss with Ruin II and Ruin III.
This all makes it really easy for a new player to perceive Aethercharge as a waste of time.
Yeah, I know SMN already does disproportionately high damage considering its Action set as a whole; no I don't think SMN needs to do more damage. I'm just saying I understand why this looks strange to new folks, who might see that it takes, e.g., five Ruin casts to kill a target whether they Aethercharge or not so why waste a GCD on Aethercharge. -
10-28-2023, 02:34 PMSilverquickNaw it really was there and it did exist for Arcanist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikey_R
As I was thinking back, I remember how I found it. I was reading the official guide on back then on SMN/ACN, the one on Lodestone here, and I saw that pet there and I'd never seen it. Then I thought Well I did go summoner before I got that so I pulled my stone to go try it out and sure enough it was there on the Summon III button, just like the guide said. -
10-28-2023, 04:23 PMRongwayWayBack Machine: Archive of "FINAL FANTASY XIV Job Guide: Summoner" updated 16 June 2017Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverquick
WayBack Machine: Archive of "FINAL FANTASY XIV Job Guide: Summoner" updated 30 July 2019
Summon III was only ever for SMN. -
10-28-2023, 08:03 PMReimmi
I still have no idea why they made the pet basically a mascot
why can't it at least do auto attacks like the fairy can with heals -
10-28-2023, 09:16 PMKimmayAs I said before, Ruby Carbuncle did not exist before /egiglamour. Summon 3 was Smn's exclusive lv30 ability. If that's hard for you to believe, then remember anything Arcanist had Scholar would have. So where is the third fairy, using Summon 3?Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverquick
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10-28-2023, 10:27 PMSilverquickWell there's nothing I can say to that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rongway
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10-31-2023, 02:34 AMRyskim
ACN will be discarded entirely. Same for CNJ, THM, MRD, GLD, and ROG
Yoshida said several times already that all Classes will be gone at some point and there will be only jobs.
Although I'd love ROG or THF to be an actual job on its own. -
11-11-2023, 07:22 AMAnomalyGlyphIt really is Weird
I agree, arcanist/SMN having a carbuncle that is only there is what really makes the class weird at the early levels. However, I would disagree that level 86 is where people come to terms with SMN as the hype and excitement does not last.
Sure, you enjoy finally summoning true primals outside of the Demis, but you just repeat those 3. furthermore, its not like we haven't seen those animations before from actually fighting those primals.
I feel that not only does this make Arcanist a weird class by having it rely on a pet you can't rely on, since you seem to summon a new carbuncle for 1 attack, but SMN as well loses its own shine as well. Just by reading the lore of SMN and how they were Allagan units that were praised for their efforts makes you wonder how far such people could have gone with just a ruin buff and an egi that only did one command.
I am fine if they wish to keep summoner in its current state, but Arcanist and Summoner need something done to make them stand out. Their ruins are all the same until the later levels, their outbursts to tri-disasters are all the same as well. The carbuncle does nothing, they have no DoTs, they are a boring class/job, and the egiglams have yet to be fixed. they just need to sit down and have a very long discussion on Arcanist, and SMN to figure out how to make the pets work.
They should also get rid of the only 3 gems motif of SMN and replace it with the ability to mix and match gems. After all, the next levels SMN is getting are most likely just trait skills rather than actual new skills (yay more ruin buffs), it feels like they could return some of the complexity SMN had by allowing you to summon other primals. Makes no sense to limit a job when primals were fought most of the time.
In the end it is a tall order for the devs to make such miracles happen right now because they would need to put in alot of work to make it all function without errors. -
11-12-2023, 03:15 PMremiff
In any case, the Summoner's rework seems rushed.
It feels like they released a half-finished job, almost closer to level 60 in terms of rotation, rather than level 90.
Furthermore, they didn't even bother to create decent animations for lower levels; they simply reused two old animations.
This shows how little effort they wanted to invest in it, and it's currently causing issues for both the Arcanist and Summoner as a whole. -
11-13-2023, 01:48 AMchip793
Aethercharge is a huge DPS gain (+50 Ruin potency/+20 Outburst potency over the 6-7 casts it lasts for is a total of 300/350 potency for ruin and 120/140 for Outburst) when fighting anything beyond overworld trash mobs. You NEVER want to avoid using it off cooldown in duties as it's how you get your arcanums which add even more damage. Carbuncle exists at low level because of Radiant Aegis which should also be used early and often to help the healer(s.) It's also how you access your arcanum spells after Aethercharge expires which will later include Enkindle damage. Never use any of the GCD AoEs on less than three targets.
For the most part, it's a little dry at low level. But I find it much more fun than the older version where it was just DoT upkeep and Ruin spam with Egi-Assault I/II off cooldown. At least now you can't lose an entire charge of pet damage to the target becoming untargetable or the pet AI simply deciding to not do what you tell it to. -
11-13-2023, 02:35 AMMikey_RIf you then take into account the GCD it costs to use Aethercharge (which could have been another ruin), you potency gain is only 60 potency for Ruin 1, 30 potency for Ruin 2 and it is a loss of 10 potency for Ruin 3 (you only get 6 casts in, might be less if you take into account the cast time). Whilst yes, it does provide the gems, it doesn't stop Aethercharge, as an action, feeling underwhelming. Once you hit 58 and get Dreadwyrm Trance, it does pick up, as you do significantly more damage. To add, just to be complete, Outburst is a 20 potency gain, same points as above.Quote:
Originally Posted by chip793
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11-13-2023, 07:51 PMPost
Like funky ShB ACN, you cast your pretty lousy GCD not for the action itself by what it brings. 200 and 220 potency over 30 second Bio and Miasma sucked but was made worth it by Fester (and Bane); Aethercharge is made worth it not even by Gems but the summons themselves. The difference being they are big, slow, and not very strong until 50 (dealing 400 until Enkindle) and not very responsive til 90 (Ifrit and Titan slowly wandering up, and guess what, all the egis and Demi summons still ghost attacks, only now it matters way more since they're a larger component of your damage and you don't get a resource from them swinging like ruin IV charges). By contrast, Fester and Bane as the reward for your weak slow low level dots were powerful and responsive oGCDs that at the very least changed up your gameplay priorities or approach to a fight, kinda like what ACN claims to be about in an the quests.
And before, DWT used to give you a free set of DoTs via Tri-Disaster, be oGCD, grant instant casts for the duration and a shorter resurrection timer all without delaying your rotation if you decided you wanted to use the whole action for movement or for utility. You could still end it early if you wanted to launch into Bahamut sooner at no DPS loss.
Point being it's not hard to be better and feel better than Aethercharge, and given the variety of things SMN used to learn while leveling it doesn't seem unreasonable to conclude that they reworked its leveling experience just enough to copy its 90 rotation, not to make it interesting or engaging in its own right.
Should probably mention that the math on Ruin 3 there is screwed, because ruin 3 doesn't reach 310 potency till 84 due to the ruin mastery 4 trait. At 54 it's still 300 potency, meaning it breaks even over 7 casts (Aethercharge + 6 empowered ruins 3 for 350 each). Why they choose to display the full level 90 strength of the actions and only potencies added in the traits instead of just stating the total value at that level I couldn't tell you, but it makes comparing actions needlessly difficult at anything other than max level. Which, again, reinforces that they don't think about other than max level.