DPS at End Game

[kukurumei]

All this sounds like to me is that you never had the fortune of grouping with an actually good SMN. You'd have a very different opinion if you did.

We have serveral good smns, good blms, and good brds, etc. You're just living on 2.0

The difference is 2.1 is not 2.0. Both content and balance.

Raw stat wise.

Smn got a thunder nerf ~7% damage nerf
Smn got a bane nerf (no more resets on dots) 2~4% nerf

Mnks got 10%+ damage buff (lost some blood for blood, but massive increase in raw output)
Mnks got fuma ~3% buff from BiS
Drg got similar 10~13%(they got way way better from the rebalance)

Bards is like 10% nerf from the blood for blood and IR nerf.

Blms got a bliz tick nerf, but got CT gear, so stayed about even (though really a sight nerf from the MP tick)

All this plus the 2.1 battle content makes melees on top, brds - decent, blms - decent, and smn...very dodgy in their damage contributions. With all the "we need to burst them down asap" mechanics it puts smn at a risky bet at times.

A good blm will out perform a good smn in standard tactics, unless the party accommodates the SMN in certain content, and a brd is just solid if not uber now.

A SMM can only really shine, when the party grumbles, and even then, a melee slot is invaluable in their contributions.