I remember on release, I made my arcanist to be summoner. Everywhere on the forums the threads were about how poor summoners performed, etc... mostly due to people thinking parsers were the perfect thing to determine actual performance.

And now I still see threads complaining about the class itself, even though it does a stellar job in raid content, with the highest damage output (less burst than BLM but overall, more damage than either BLM and BRD) and one of the best toolbox for the different situations you might encounter.

Sure, the summons themselves are inferior forms of the primals themselves and compared to previous FF games, it is a bit disappointing, but the gameplay of the class keeps you busy constantly, with a much longer rotation to keep you from the boredom that other jobs have: BRD is just too simple, BLM is just too repetitive too quick.

Apply DoTs, keeping track of them, using Contagion and Bane carefully, launching your gas cham- I mean shadow flare and sometimes just for fun you can close-in for a Miasma II while spamming your Ruin II on the move.

Fester is a good burst but is still giving place to Energy Drain when the BRD is either non-present or dead~

The Job itself works really well with all its skills, and there is still much more I want to test eventually but we'll need UI improvements and mods for that hah.

So stop whining about how summoners are, there's no reason to, the class is well designed and has a great internal balance and good synergy with not only their own skills but also other players' skills. Can't get enough of that Foe's Requiem!