We have finally come full circle, SMN's need help!

[Orrias]

1. Increase Aetherflow stacks (Reasoning; after 1.30 mins, you're out of Aetherflow stacks and have just entered the non-competitive zone, if no adds are available to dps in tandum).
   
2. Remove the Aetherflow stack requirement of Energy Drain/ buff the potency of Energy Drain (Reasoning: Long drawn out, 1v1 fights equate to lolSMN, as MP returns are a joke).
   
3. Add PIE to future SMN weapons (Reasoning: Helps somewhat with the MP issue that SMNs have in FCoB).

The issues that SMN faces stem from two abilities -- Aetherflow and Energy Drain. In addtion to this, the fight mechanics in FCoB also compound the issue, as they do not give much leeway for a SMN to play to their fullest, w/o a group overgearing the encounter, in order for MP issues to be hidden where they ordinarily wouldn't be.

You could add more PIE/ MP regen, however, as soon as your initial Aetherflow stacks are burnt burnt through (from the start of a fight), and you need the next Aetherflow stack for a Fester, to maintain competitive dps, and you can't, you're screwed. Aetherflow is also a nuissance, as any buffs it could potentially receive are, under the current Job system, going to be subject to watering down due to it being a ACN ability. (-____-)

Tbh, I think it's too late now. The Dev team is most likely just going to make changes for 3.0, or one of the 3.x patches.