SUMMONER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE OR ADD? (EVOLUTION & STAT ALLOCATION)

[WizardShotTheFood]

Really, only two real changes that I'd make:

1.) Pet glamours. (Rather than summoning Titan as a tank pet and Garuda as a ranged DPS pet, or example, you could summon any of your Egis as tank, melee DPS, or ranged DPS. The skills would change accordingly; for example, using Enkindle on a tank Garuda-Egi would result in an Aerial Blast that works like Earthen Fury and perhaps has a hurricane-like visual, whereas Landslide on a ranged DPS Titan-Egi might be replaced with an action called Land's Wrath with the same effect as Contagion.) This would simplify the process of adding new Egis.

2.) Spell speed causes DoTs to tick faster. Boom, itemization crisis solved.

[Shougun]

Chime in for visual buff, and rather than retcon (that's poo-poo) evolution sounds excellent. On terms of previous FF games, there is little to say- FFXIV's summoner is not like any of its predecessors (summons visually). There is certainly an issue of too big for an mmorpg, or too detailed but that would be the second point - WoW's Warlock which is a similar idea to ARR's has a much larger variance and size than FFXIV's (imp to giant infernal, and evolution options), or Aion which are fairly complex and varied as well.

So, imo SE should seriously consider evolution as a way to avoid retcon, to improve fanfare to something clearly jumped ship, and to compete with other mmorpgs. Lore wise so long as summoners don't pull a full primal out of their booty we're good, we've already seen a summoner summon a slightly different egi with elder-primal essence or familiar (carby) - so the idea there are other forms/things is not weird and not immediately against the lore. The idea of logical progression does mean SE doesn't want to give players most epic thing immediately as they'd lose that as an option in future contents/expansions, but as of right now we're at something incomparable to other FF and non-competitive even at relative starting frames of said example games (WoW/Aion). Having both of those traits seem to be undesirable- start the evolution please ;_;/.

[AriaEnia]

I really disappointed when they dont make Diablos from FF VIII as a primal, I think I fought him at Andapor

[Brianmj]

I really disappointed when they dont make Diablos from FF VIII as a primal, I think I fought him at Andapor

For me it was Fenrir. I played FF11 and having Fenrir was a thing. I was sad to see him be just a dungeon boss.

[SomeRandomHuman]

1. Remove contigation from garuda and replace it with a small damage buff or pet dot, and then shaft spur(look at the description, it's got little use compared to rouse) for said contigtion.

2. Remove the aetherflow mechanic from fester. Seriously, the big damage is on a double cool down.

3. Makes enkindle more usable like flare. You guys have all heard of the almighty triple flare right?

4. Give ruin a slight buff. 80 potency doesn't do much of anything. Bump it up to 100 potency at least.

5. Make spell speed a relevant stat on arcanist all together. Yes we know arcanist was rushed, but you should at least try to fix it.

5. Tweak the pet AI so they will dodge ground-targeted aoes.

6. Shiva egi, and Pheonix-egi in 3.0. 'nuff said.

[Kona4me]

You said what i really wish for... i like your idea!

I was a Summoner but changed to Ninja... well Nin feels like a dancer sometimes but really hate small summons more than nin's /dance actions..

Love ninjutsu though

[Noxifer]

*amused* Started reading through this topic, then ran into some confusing AI comments that didn't make sense... until I checked the date of those posts ^^;

But yes, some of these complaints are quite valid, and it's disappointing to see that there's been very little development in this regard. Well, none that we've been made aware of, at least.

There has been mentionings of adjusting the class/job system with the expansion, so I'm hoping some of these issues will be taken care of. I'm also hoping they've changed their mind about 'evolving' egis, where you gradually grow strong enough to handle slightly more powerful egis -- not necessarily stat-wise, since that comes from your own gear/level anyway, but represented by the egis looking slightly more like their primal counterparts. (In detail/design, that is, not necessarily size.)

I do wish for a better AI/Gambit system, though I do realize that would likely take a lot of development time to figure out how to implement. Just something as 'simple' as "avoid floor AoEs" means the client will have to continuously check "where's the egi right now? is that area targeted by an AoE? If yes, move egi in a random direction until that is no longer the case. Is there a wall/obstacle in the way? Change direction by X degrees." and so on and so forth.

summoned pets disappearing... they should just abandon target and come to you if you get to far.

That'd be like FFXI and people would hate that.

This is actually an issue that still exists, and I can't see why 'people would hate it' if your egi broke Stay/Place commands (or stopped chasing monsters you're not fighting...) if you moved beyond summoning range instead of just desummoning.
I'm not the best SMN, far from it, and I'll readily admit it. But far too often I've run through dungeons as SMN, placed my Garuda during a boss fight, and after we've won and gone on, only realizing during the next mob fight that my party list only has four members instead of five...

So basically, instead of Garuda going, "Oh, my summoner has abandoned me. I'm unwanted. *poof*" I'd like her to go, "Oh, my summoner ran away somewhere. I need to go find them. *hurries after SMN*"

Same with attacking enemies (especially chickenyellow, fleeing ones) and running too far away. Though in that case, I currently imagine her going, "Oh no! I'm lost! Woe is me... *returns to the aether to mope*" ¬_¬



Another thing that really, really bugs me is the random placement of Sic/Obey skills on the pet hotbar. For Garuda and Titan (and the Carbies/Faeries), their auto-attack is #1, with #2-4 being the ones turned off by Obey. On Ifrit, however, the auto-attack is #2, with #1, #3 and #4 being the ones turned off by Obey. What gives? O.o

[Ghastly]

I really disappointed when they dont make Diablos from FF VIII as a primal, I think I fought him at Andapor

This made me really sad too. Diablos should be a primal.

[Kio]

I really disappointed when they dont make Diablos from FF VIII as a primal, I think I fought him at Andapor

Seconded, Fenrir as well. They used classic summons as mere dungeon bosses then had to make up their own primal for the expansion per their words, "We ran out of the classics to use." I mean it's fun and all to see something familiar to be used in dungeons but I feel their original ideas are better suited for the end boss there.

[Wildsprite]

better hate moves for Titan-Egi for those situations where the Tank is down and you need something to help while the tank is recovering so you don't lose the whole fight