My opinionated Summoning Class Review (to be politically correct)

I've been wanting to do this review for a while but decided to wait until I had all the summons so i wouldn't come off noobish in the forums. Finally got garuda yesterday and feel I can appropriately voice my opinion and suggestions here.

TL:DR - Each summon should have a specific style, in other words why is my chocobo companion the only real summon in the game?

To explain, what I mean is a few key points. First off garuda and titan are just upgraded versions of blue and gold carbuncle with a different body kit on them (yeah i said body kit). Ifrit...well i suppose he is a bit different with his slashing and such.. but my point is that each of these would have been better portrayed if they had their own specialty. Suggestion on this would be to add the elemental wheel to the game which would make elemental primals more relevant.

Specialty clarification- I understand we have our own self heal ability..but to be honest i'd rather just have a summon that specializes in healing, that way in a confrontation I could make a choice, would I rather summon something to heal me and my party or summon something for damage dealing or tanking or stunning/paralyzing etc.. I feel that the company have viewed the summon class with a limited imagination, and i'm not asking to create ideas out of nowhere...how about creating a summon class that acts like the summon class in all your other FF games. In FF9 (my personal favorite), if i gauged that an enemy was about to use an attack that would kill half my party you know what i did? I summoned Pheonix which had the ability to attack an enemy and use all the damage dished out to the enemy as hp renewal to my party + it revived anyone who was dead.. This is just one example of what i mean by a summons specialty.

Finally and most importantly in my opinion, is the non mandatory nature of summons. In other words, when you think of a class which is called a summoner, shouldn't that mean that the entire class (like 80% or more) is based around having to summon something to get a job done? I won't even go too much into detail here but lets just talk battle for example, even if i don't summon anything i can still kill any monster of my level by myself..and I think that is a problem. In order to do any sort of battle (beyond the first like 20 levels) i feel that summoned creatures should be the primary means to deal with combat situations in this game, it shouldn't be that if i feel like it i'll summon something because it looks cool, the summons should be the method of necessity of the class, the fact that i hit for more damage than my summon just makes me sad inside.

Suggestions- in future updates please if not revamp at least upgrade the mechanics of what the summoners class is capable of. I mean ok i'm happy we have good survivability, in dungeons i tend to be the last one to survive right next to the tank...but i'd rather be completely squishy and have to rely on strategizing how to utilize my summon properly than simply be a DOT mashing secondary tank >_<

I agree completely.

The pets are way too dull and uninspired. Titan is only a small upgrade over the topaz carbuncle. There is also the look. FF summons have always been big and cool looking. The primals in the game look incredible. So why do my three pets look so cartoony, brightly colored and lame? Where are Ifrit and Titan's legs? Why are these pets floating when carbuncle has no trouble walking?

We said this before launch, and I will say again. The three summoner pets should look a lot cooler than they do, and a bit bigger too. Just give us a man sized version of the actual primal.

The other concern I have is my spells. Ruin, Poison(Bio), Miasma, Virus, Fester and so on. Why do I have necromancer spells? Summoners were never about death and decay. Arcanists are supposed to be mathematical spellcasters. Our spells should be named things like Parallel, Tangent, Vertex, etc. Right now, you could just replace all of my colorful pets with a skeleton and call me a necromancer.

The class needs an overhaul in order to feel like a true summoner otherwise its just a necromancer or warlock.

While i agree our spells really ring of Necromancer, and Ifrit kinda looks like a Fireskeleton anyway... The job isn't terrible. I mean, a job that relies completely on the Summon becomes a giant liability in endgame content where they die quite often and are susceptible to things like Aurum's Poison or Terrotaur's Doom (Which admittedly the doom can be removed if you're quick). I know we have swiftcast for that, But I can't see myself enjoying a job that becomes crap without its pet. despite how much I enjoy it in offline Final Fantasy Titles. The only Online FF Summoner is in XI, and it was useless because of the very thing you're suggesting. Mediocrity between all fields instead of some specialization in one. Same reason RDM Failed too.

But despite how much i hate SMN has become "Generic Pet job 1" that exists in every single modern MMO, the fact that we can function without our pets I don't see as a problem, it just means if our pets die for some reason (and they will die at level 50) that we don't then become entirely worthless.

Hmm... I want Summoner to be different, But i don't want that to mean I as a player am weak and worthless without my pet, thats a good reason as to why FFXI Summoner sucked sh*t to be honest, the job was too pet dependent and the pets sucked. If they make FFXIV pet dependent and they mess up even the slightest in their balancing of the job, we now become obsolete.

I want better looking Pets (mini-Primals would have been nice), I want more interactive pets (Perhaps more abilities?), But i don't want them to come at the cost of our Non-pet effectiveness. Which i guess is asking a lot. But right now our pets really are required for any non-fodder mobs. I mean, try soloing any Storyline or Quest instances without a pet. You don't win, or if you do, It'd of been much easier to do with a pet.

Necro's in most MMO's going back to EQ have these attributes...

1. Mana Pumping (usually at HP cost)
2. Pets (often tank oriented, not damage oriented)
3. DOT's
4. Backup healing

So yes, Summoner in ARB is just another name for Necromancer and doesn't fit lore-wise into the traditional Final Fantasy Summoner.

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Originally Posted by BlaiseArath

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That's the problem I have with the class is that the egi's are susceptible to status effects which they shouldn't be and take way to much damage from aoe attacks. I honest to god would play the class if they renamed it Necromancer and gave me undead minions and redo the storyline quests and allow us to redo them to see the changes. At this point I've dropped the class all together as it doesn't feel like a summoner from the Final Fantasy universe.

Blaise is right in the fact that a class that is completely dependent on pets is a liability end game. Without exact controls over the pet which is still not enough because of the issue with controlling 2 toons to avoid mechanics that do not forgive even the slightest delay will still be a liability on the raid.

I personally love the smn class, it reminds me of my Mage in EQ and I do very well with it and can keep my pet alive for the most part. There are times where it will die and if the raid isn't getting trashed and forcing me to utilize my swiftcast cooldowns then I'll bring it back up.

They gave us smn and sch for a reason so we could decide if we wanted to be dps or healing specialized, which is something I thought was great. Asking to give us half and half on a single class is asking to never be end game viable as the harder end game content will require that all members of the raid to perform at a specialized level. Being a jack of all trades may keep you alive alone but in a raid you just wont be able to dish out enough damage to be useful, and you just wont be able to heal enough to be useful either, you would be useless.

IF they were to change smn, the only way I would see it being different, cooler looking and viable is if they made us like the summons in FFX where we summon and that summon takes our place with its own abilities. I would see that as being pretty cool, but would take way more work than a single job is worth right now.

Summoner Pets looks way better back in FFXI XD Fenrir, Garuda, Ramuh, Ifrit, Leviathan, Shiva, Titan.

I agree with many of the points here. The only thing that feels authentically FF Summoner-ish about the job is the artifact armor.

How I'd change it:

1) Change the name from 'Summoner' to 'Evoker' (see FFIII) -- It's a much better fit with the mechanics they currently have in play.

2) Re-introduce SMN in a future expansion with true classic FF summons that are actually one-shot uber-spells that generate extra effects/buffs/debuffs while in the process of casting (long casting time). Summons include: Siren, Chupon, Carbuncle, Fenrir, Moogle King, Ultros, Maduin/Madeen, Bismark, Atomos -- eventually add primals to the mix much later on (eg lvl 70+)

In short:
Evoker = DOT pet job (what we have now)
Summoner = Uber caster DD with traditional epic summon spells.

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Originally Posted by Zantetsuken

Good things

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Exactly, i wouldn't even mind if they just gave us for our limit breaks a real primal summon animation which just does 1 epic attack and then goes away, at least then i'd feel like an actual summoner a little.

Well they wanted a warlock type dot class in the game and this is it.

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Originally Posted by Yoko_Kurama

Exactly, i wouldn't even mind if they just gave us for our limit breaks a real primal summon animation which just does 1 epic attack and then goes away, at least then i'd feel like an actual summoner a little.

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Love the idea.

This would work in tandem with a much-needed overhaul of the Limit Break system. Each Class/Job should have it's own limit break (at least in appearance- if not functionality). And the limit break meter should require a bit more to fill than just run-of-the-mill attacking and healing.

Before retail I was really hyped about SMN, but now I just stick with SCH until my CNJ get to 50, & then wait around for other new jobs. I don't really think there would be even a slightest chance they gonna put some large adjustments to SMN now... The job has been corrupted since the design concept & it's already too late to reconsider anything...

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Originally Posted by Bluejay

Necro's in most MMO's going back to EQ have these attributes...

1. Mana Pumping (usually at HP cost)
2. Pets (often tank oriented, not damage oriented)
3. DOT's
4. Backup healing

So yes, Summoner in ARB is just another name for Necromancer and doesn't fit lore-wise into the traditional Final Fantasy Summoner.

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It does, however, fit the game's lore and the foundation set by arcanist.

The Signature moves of Primals are going to be relegated to their own system once they patch in the FATE versions of the primal fights and should you be lucky enough to acquire its summon gem for your FC to use as a one off.

As for changing the job from what it is currently, I'd personally would have designed the class to essentially junction primal's to yourself (though i can see how lorewise this would be a no no) and while junctioned you have access to their abilities though this would essentially allow the SMN to be a ranged damage dealer, melee or tank at will so I could see this being considered OP but it at least would have been different. However the popular request is that the pets aren't a big enough of a focus so my suggestion wouldn't help with that at all. XD

Good suggestions in this thread though even though I'm fine with how it is I'd be equally fine if they changed it up.

The summons are definitely.. not doing it. They're kinda boring. I generally just leave them on auto because they don't have that many skills to begin with, and they're altogether just.. not contributing to much else other than a flatrate damage bonus. The Egi's themselves are also pretty bleh.. not to open that can of worms again, but geez.. Garuda-egi doesn't look ANYTHING like Garuda, fewer wings, a bird head for some reason, etc etc.. At least Ifrit and Titan have some resemblance to their Primals, albeit not as much as I'd like..

Sigh.. The class itself with DoT rotations and such is fine really. It just doesn't feel like a Summoner at all is the problem. If each pet had more going on, were maybe a bit flashier, and there was more focus on controlling the pet rather than spamming DoT's I'd definitely love it more than I do.