Garuda might lose Contagion.

[Duelle]

I think they should be given additional skills to give them a bit more utility, rather than removing them. Ifrit, for example, could grant Enfire to the party, adding additional fire damage to every attack. Garuda could grant a spell speed increase similar to Serene. Titan could grant a defense bonus.

The thing is that Contagion is a direct DPS increase to SMN but comes with one specific pet. That's what basically makes Garuda superior to Ifrit. As I've said in the past, Tri-disaster and Contagion should effectively switch places. This way Garuda has some utility (knockback and a AoE bind) while SMN's DPS increase is directly tied to them instead of forcing them to use one specific egi.

It'll never happen, since SE is forcing every job to be specialized rather than generalized, but it's the only way Summons will be more than just another tool.

Could be worse. Our summons could be dolphins that appear from the ground while our summoner prances around like an absolutely fabulous man, for one.

[Lemuria]

The thing is that Contagion is a direct DPS increase to SMN but comes with one specific pet.

The thing is, contagion isn't strictly a DPS increase on its own. It's an extension of the duration. That extension could just as easily come from a summoner recasting it, so the DPS increase is really based on what you're doing in the time saved by not casting. It's definitely better than the competition, and that's kind of sad, but I think people put it on a higher pedestal than it deserves.

i did say you can learn to move your pet out of harms way its called place, and we have a pet heal people... I guess some just don't want that challenge >.<

The time you waste constantly repositioning your summon is time not spent attacking the boss or dodging. It's not a simple case of "place boss here", since most of them move around the arena and force different tactics out of you. This is why Garuda excels. She can hit the target no matter how much it moves around. Ifrit has to waste time chasing after it, which can result in lost DPS.

And using the 'Place' command results in Ifrit NOT following bosses which move. He'll remain rooted for the duration of the fight, so again you'll have to send him back after the boss after each reposition.

The difference in potency isn't nearly large enough to consider using Ifrit over Garuda for any reason other than appearances sake.

[Sunako]

DPS increase is really based on what you're doing in the time saved by not casting.

It is not only that. If you apply your dots while using cooldowns, your whole dot duration is gonna be with the same power than once u apply those with cds. And second thing that matter, you save like 200 - 300 mana every minute and that is like worth of one energy drain which mean you can fester more = dps increase.

[Bigcat9715]

Here's one idea that I came up with that I haven't seen posted yet and I want your guys thoughts on.

What-if they made it where you only have one pet, but it has the chocobo mechanics of being able to switch stances, like Ifrit stance, Garuda stance, and Titan stance. And it can switch to them on the fly.

example: you have your pet in the ifrit stance and he just got hurt and only have a small bit of health left. All you have to do is steady, Garuda stance, obey, sustain, contagion if it's up, Ifrit stance, then sic to send them back out there.

I really want your guys thoughts on this, because this seems like a much better way to balance out the egis.

[Camalott]

idea

Never really thought of it. From a purely mechanical standpoint, it would remove any subsequent MP drains from having to summon different Egi's mid-battle - and the cast timers associated. However, I think it would make them TOO accessible as a collective. I know, it's never good enough - right?

Granted, yours is an infant idea that would need fleshing out before we could go full nerd mode and tear apart its merits and failures like a pack of vultures with down syndrome.

Still think it's neat though. Kind of like the idea I saw of making a Combat SMN who wears the Egi like a suit of aethereal armor. Neat to think about, headache to balance.

[Bigcat9715]

However, I think it would make them TOO accessible as a collective.

Hmmmmm, what if there was a 1 min CD between stances? Still too accessible?

[Buff_Archer]

Here's one idea that I came up with that I haven't seen posted yet and I want your guys thoughts on.

What-if they made it where you only have one pet, but it has the chocobo mechanics of being able to switch stances, like Ifrit stance, Garuda stance, and Titan stance. And it can switch to them on the fly.

example: you have your pet in the ifrit stance and he just got hurt and only have a small bit of health left. All you have to do is steady, Garuda stance, obey, sustain, contagion if it's up, Ifrit stance, then sic to send them back out there.

I really want your guys thoughts on this, because this seems like a much better way to balance out the egis.

People who don't play Summoner would never let us have that.

[Bigcat9715]

People who don't play Summoner would never let us have that.

What? It would actually get people to want to play SMN. I barely see any SMN running around anymore.

[alsims2007]

The time you waste constantly repositioning your summon is time not spent attacking the boss or dodging.

And using the 'Place' command results in Ifrit NOT following bosses which move. He'll remain rooted for the duration of the fight, so again you'll have to send him back after the boss after each reposition.

Dont place ifrit. Just use heel/return (he returns to you who is safe) then use obey. I did this with titan-egi to tank the cyclops fate in coerthas. It was funny how that worked I just had to make sure titan was always between me and the boss. He would die if he had to go through the hit box to get back to me. But that was for fun, to many things to watch besides watching if ifrit needs to return for a sec.