Garuda might lose Contagion.

[Bigcat9715]

I'm not saying yes or no this is just my theory, because the new pets are coming out and garuda is still OP to the point she might overshadow them. So they may change it to where the player has contagion or just remove from the game completely. This will open the door to all of the pets, maybe even making them situational. This is just my theory, what do you guys think? Yay or nay?

[meischoice]

nope, pets might just get a buff or something. idk

[Prototype909]

No matter what one pet is going to be preferred in fights that actually matter because all the pets are is an extension of the Summoner's damage - Ifrit has a stun but that's not Summoner's job (And it comes with all the woes of being melee), Titan can tank, but that's not a Summoner's job. Nobody cares if Ifrit is marginally better than Garuda in trash clearing or if Titan can help you solo overworld mobs because clearing content like that is basically assured regardless of what you do.

The pet that is best at optimizing DPS in Coil-esque fights is that one that will be summoned, the rest will be ignored.

[Verlyn]

I think I'd rather Garuda lose Contagion. Yes, the dps increase it provides is important--so either make it baseline or give Ifrit something equivalent (which in and of itself is a dangerous slippery slope).
Even if it still ends up that Grooda is slightly better, I'd like at least the option of taking Ifrit if I feel like it without utterly crippling my dps.

[Camalott]

Honestly, I'd like that (dropping contagion off of Garuda).

Would like it even more if they made it a straight-up SMN CD instead so I didn't have to click on it five million times and pray that Garuda fires it off some time this year.

I've spent a good amount of effort bickering that Garuda is the 99% go-to and I personally feel that it should not be that way. There should be some options and decisions that the SMN should have to make in how they approach an issue - to which the Egi of choice is a direct reflection of said decision.

Either way, I'm very much looking forward to the introduction of any additional Egi - and any possibility at making the Egi selection itself have more impact.

Don't want to get any further into the weeds (again) than that.

[Meier]

Contagion needs to be the actual summoner's skill, not tied to a pet...so that way, we can freely use other pets. It feels silly forced to use one pet all the time, or have a DPS loss

[pageybear]

i think contagion should be a straight up smn move, not tied to only garuda. It would be nice if they made them situationally better so you are not always having to summon the same on.

[SirTaint]

100% agree cont should be a SMn move not a pet move.

I never ise ifrit, not with losing cont. titan at least is nice for solo and for doing hunts. Titan is awesome for capping allied seals even solo on hunt mobs.

[Bigcat9715]

The pet that is best at optimizing DPS in Coil-esque fights is that one that will be summoned, the rest will be ignored.

I see what your getting at and I agree with you, but what if there is no best pet? What if all of the pets equal out and the only way to differentiate them is by the situation your going into, in or out of Coil fights. Wouldn't that be better?

[Prototype909]

I see what your getting at and I agree with you, but what if there is no best pet? What if all of the pets equal out and the only way to differentiate them is by the situation your going into, in or out of Coil fights. Wouldn't that be better?

I agree, but the problem is the way the game is currently structured doesn't really allow for it.

Summoner is a DPS, it's ultimately going to be gauged by its DPS and the game is designed to not really allow classes to be anything than what they are on the marquee. Ifrit and Titan are superfluous by nature of Garuda's existence, if you remove Contagion from Garuda you aren't solving the problem, you're just removing power from the pet and putting it on the Summoner - but ultimately only one pet is going to be chosen (The one that maximizes your DPS number). For there to be a situation where all the pets were "Separate, but equal" that would involve either a total breakaway from the way SE currently designs fights (Or stats) or it would require them to allow Summoner or all jobs to have more leeway in their role. If Ifrit could provide the party with Buff X or Advantage Y as opposed to Garuda's Buff A and Advantage B you would have a reason to pick one over the other based on the fight, right now that kind of thing doesn't exist (For any class in this game). It's just "Ifrit does this damage in melee range and Garuda does this damage at range" as it stands.

I hate using XI's summons as an example because that job (And that game) is full of its own balance woes and issues, but it is an example of at the very least an attempt to differentiate between pets and provide them their own niches. Not simply "This is the pet you use before Garuda, and this is Garuda".