So why was Summoner advertised as a pet class

[EvokerKeii]

I'm still confused as to why SMN are still not setting their pets to obey. Nothing to me screams lazy/inattentive/unknowlegeable summoner like when I'm in a group and I see pets using skills manually. Any skill garuda uses other then contagion is a dps loss and therefor sure be set to obey so it only uses wind blade. So mobs shouldn't be getting knocked back or knocked out of sleep because the only skill being used should be wind blade.

Because I play with a controller with limited hotbar actions and messing around with pet commands clunks everything up.

[Alhanelem]

The only viable pet is the one that acts as DoT buff, Titan has absolutely no role in party content and Ifrit is strictly inferior to Garuda in every encounter. Even if they were to add more Egis the only differential between them would be DPS (Or lack there-of) meaning you'll still only ever make use of one pet in any encounter. What's the point of utility if DPS is always the better option and what utility the other Egis do offer is already covered by another role?

SMn is a pet job. All the pets are viable for certain things. Titan *is* viable for party content; it can literally tank many dungeons (with a preformed group) and it can hold adds.

[ToraFomalhaut]

I think mechanic wise, if SE tried hard enough a proper summoner class would be more than possible. But I feel that they shot themselves in the foot with the lore in Eorzea being that all summoned creatures consume Aether and because of this we'll never see players able to control big summon-able demi gods because what would then separate use from the beast tribes? Also the primals tend to enslave any creature that gets within 10m of them so there would be that additional concept they'd have to reason away.

What I'm curious about and was hyped up during the build up to 2.0 was the feature for FC's to defeat and gain the ability to summon the full primal itself in a one off power move that would effect the worlds weather patterns. I don't think we've heard anything of this game feature since launch. Although what then would make the free companies any better than the beast tribes? Wouldn't they too be consuming the planets Aether for their own benefit? And just how would they dismiss the primal once they summoned him? Considering we've had to defeat him each time previously, I don't see the sentient demi-gods being dismissed so easily.

I know my complaints are riddled with holes what the warriors of light are immune to being turned into mindless savants like the beast tribes but I guess my point is that with the lore built into the core of the game, SE haven't left a lot of room to move on the matter without either a complete a retcon or introducing somekind of magic macguffin that removes the consumption of aether from the summoning of primal beings.

[Phaylis]

The only viable pet is the one that acts as DoT buff, Titan has absolutely no role in party content and Ifrit is strictly inferior to Garuda in every encounter. Even if they were to add more Egis the only differential between them would be DPS (Or lack there-of) meaning you'll still only ever make use of one pet in any encounter. What's the point of utility if DPS is always the better option and what utility the other Egis do offer is already covered by another role?

How Is Garuda Egi the only viable pet. Each pet has its role and if you are playing summoner correctly you should never be solely relying on Garuda. And based upon potency of abilities on each Egi it is Ifirit then Garuda.

Contagion is only going to have any dps boost used in conjecture with fester. Which would mean to get the most out of the fester/contagion would be having to refresh all DoTs then use contagion and fester. Which in itself is a potential dps loss.

[Nakuru]

I laugh at this class being a summoner... I'll be really honest, when I first heard of final fantasy 14ARR coming out I was like what? I had to check it out. So then I saw this video of a group fighting the Ultima weapon on beta. And then I saw it. I saw what i thought was a summoner. It was a player using carbuncle! I was like...OMFG!!! i have to go get me a copy now! To this day im dissapointed at the summoner class.... i can't even summon carbuncle as a summoner... cause we have a lame excuse of a summon called Garuda acting as him or Titan.... This Necromancer class sucks...

[Sotek]

Why do people find Garuda superior to Ifrit? Outside Stun resistance (use Obey), Ifrit really seems better to me... OK, that's a lie; switching them about regularly really seems better to me. Garuda is great for Contagion, but that's it. Inferno is arguably better than Aerial Blast; it has 50 less potency, but gains 100 potency in DoT (20 Potency/tic for 15s). Earthen Fury might be the better though, since I have no idea the potency of Razed Earth since the tooltip isn't kind enough to provide that... Flaming Crush is better than Aerial Slash. Burning Slash is better than Wind Blade. Shockwave is arguably better than Crimson Cyclone, since Stun resistance is a thing, but that's about it...

Titan I find great for solo, but I'd also imagine they could give him a use in boss battles; loads of adds spawn, switch to Titan and sic him on them. Would need some work, but that's how I think he should be used...

Just like with Scholar, I really lament the fact that Summoner hasn't been given an ability to allow it to quickly switch pet. Would anyone miss Tri-Disaster? Likewise, Leeches should have been given to Selene in place of the Silence ability, with Scholars new ability letting them switch quickly. It just gives the jobs so much more potential to be functionally interesting...

[Gramul]

Bring back elemental damage.

[SummonerSenah]

Just like with Scholar, I really lament the fact that Summoner hasn't been given an ability to allow it to quickly switch pet.

What about Swiftcast? It's almost instant that way.

[frostmagemari]

The only viable pet is the one that acts as DoT buff, Titan has absolutely no role in party content and Ifrit is strictly inferior to Garuda in every encounter. Even if they were to add more Egis the only differential between them would be DPS (Or lack there-of) meaning you'll still only ever make use of one pet in any encounter. What's the point of utility if DPS is always the better option and what utility the other Egis do offer is already covered by another role?

They wanted to create the World of Warcraft (Affliction) Warlock (a DoT based pet class), and they technically gave us that, only it has none of the flair or personality of the class that it was (obviously) based off of; They need to take another hard look at the class they based the Arcanist/Summoner off of, and rebalance the job.

[EvokerKeii]

How Is Garuda Egi the only viable pet. Each pet has its role and if you are playing summoner correctly you should never be solely relying on Garuda. And based upon potency of abilities on each Egi it is Ifirit then Garuda.

Contagion is only going to have any dps boost used in conjecture with fester. Which would mean to get the most out of the fester/contagion would be having to refresh all DoTs then use contagion and fester. Which in itself is a potential dps loss.

Raging Strikes + Int Pot + Contagion is worth it alone.