[Pole] Do you want to see the summoner class reworked?

[Marveth]

YES, without a doubt.

Yes!

Please make it a PET CLASS... not a dot class..

Make a different class the dot class...

My thoughts exactly

[Crevox]

Yes

Arcanist is fine. Summoner should not be an arcanist. Summoner should be a summoner.

[Mikejconnor]

YES your post hit the nail on the head brother

YES

When I saw SE was making a SMN job I was so thrilled because through all of the FFs I have always loved the job of the Summoner the most. The problem with FFXIV's summoner is we are nothing more than a lame pet class. The worst part of this is the focus of the summoner is DD through optimization of our DoTs and offers very little interaction with the actual pet itself.

I was really hoping that FFXIV was going to be inventive with this opportunity and not just conform to every other MMO's standard pet class. Unfortunately I was proven wrong.

Personally, I would love to see these summons re-envisioned more as short term companions whose initial summoning does decent burst dmg or has an effect, stays for a short duration, and is dismissed either in death or a timer. They should be our main damage source, not a bunch of DoTs with a pet basically acting as another DoT.

[Ambacht]

Yes - SMN feels awkward and just doesnt really fit into the game.
Call me a fanboy, but it's because I've played all these Final fantasy's that I have a pretty good idea what a summoner is.
So I say again this is not it, they could make this job so much better then it currently is. So yeah, go for it!

[Nyel]

As we can see, there are equal halfs of "love it" or "hate it".

But the "hate it" part... what about suggestions how to rework the class? Just tell us, come up with changes that can really fit into an MMORPG.

All of the FF-Summoners have been special and would never fit into the MMO-gameplay, so please, make some good and realizable suggestions.

[shinros]

Yes I think they should be re worked slightly the pets need to interact more with the summoner.

Trayes wrote this in a topic. I think square should of went with something like this IMO.

I am sure no one cares what I think but I do not enjoy the dot summoner with lame pets. If i had to change the playstyle away from dots into something else it would look like this.

Ruin: 80 potency. Grants you and your pet a buff depending on what pet you have out.
(Ifrit: Grants the user and pet stacking buff that increases damage by 5%, stacks 2 times)
(Titan: Lowers damage taken by the user and the pet by 5% for 4 seconds. Does not stack)
(Garuda: Grants the user and the pet 3% spell speed. Stacks 4 times. Garuda gains double from this effect)

Ruin II: 80 potency. This spell and the pet do a special bonus attack.
(Ifrit: Apply a 15 potency dot for 18 seconds.) Both the player and the pet apply this dot.
(Titan: Gain health equal to damage dealt.) Both the player and the pet heal based on the damage of thier attack.
(Garuda: Deal half damage to all enemies near the target) Both the player and the pet do the aoe damage.)

Now these are just ideas of how I would have made the summoner feel closer to their pets while adding some depth to the overall playstyle of the summoner. Also this is me only changing 2 skills. I am sure I could give a huge list of ideas.

Like an aether flow spell that grants a party buff based on the summon out.
Garuda would buff move speed and spell speed
Titan would give everyone a small stone skin
Ifrit would add "Enfire" to all melee attacks

Or it could just pass whatever the Ruin 1 buff is to the party for a short time. Like 5 seconds. Everyone gains 10% damage or everyone takes 5% less damage or everyone casts faster. Who knows. But I would have tried to make more of a connection.

[Totallymeh]

YES!

It pales in comparison to every single summoner class in every Final Fantasy before this one.

The base lore for Egis is a fine concept but in no way should your pet which is supposed to resemble the primal look this atrocious.

Ifrit and Titan are both laughable as summons, Garuda is only ahead because of her DoT refresher which is another VERY sad fact.

Like a post I read before, even us average players can come up with better ideas regarding SMN in its current state and its weak and pointless "pet system", which in its turn is VERY sad considering a billion dollar company couldn't even come up with something better.

I'd start with removing at least 1 or 2 DoTs and put their effects on the DoTs we have left.
Adjust Ruin and Ruin II as mentioned above.
Add 2-3 new spells that have a direct link to our pet and forcing it to cast a certain spell depending on the pet in use.
Buff Enkindle!!
Adjust the A.I. and make pet spells usable while casting.
Don't make the majority of the pet spells copies of one-another.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, one thing that kept going through my head when playing SMN was ... Aion Spiritmaster.

[PiedPiper]

Yes

FF has a job dedicated to dots and enfeebling magic. Its called Red Mage. Red Mage doesn't have a pet.


I really enjoy the dot management they thought up, and do enjoy current SMN.. but its not a summoner. Its a red mage in green. I would like to see Summoner re-worked so that most your abiliteis were tied to the current summon, so that your attacks and actions take the form of orders/pacts through the summon with fewer abilities and spells cast by the summoner itself, those being mostly focused on buffing/healing/interacting with the summon. Maybe some sort of mutual combo or building system. Summoner shoudl be mostly about summoning, not about some activity other than summoning.

Take the current class, buff it to compensate for loss of pet, and give us Red Mage. Re-make SMN to be focused on pets.

[Vashous]

As we can see, there are equal halfs of "love it" or "hate it".

Look again. As more people vote numbers are getting further apart. There are so many things they could do to make the SMN class feel more like what we al know and love about the style of gameplay they bring. Smner's primary focus should be the summon. In it's current state the summon is nothing more than another DoT. You pay very little attention to it unless it is low on health. Soloing, the summon absorbs damage for you while you spam DoTs. You can't even reliably use the smn's skills because of the inability to use them while channeling a skill. To top things off the skills are not instantaneous and often need to be mashed just to get them to go off.

Aside from the fact that summoners do not feel like a "summoner" at all, there are numerous flawed mechanics at the moment.

[Vezzian]

Are we talking fireman pole or stripper pole here?

I'm a little late to the party but was thinking the same thing LOL

I would've just added totem pole is all....