Can someone give me an in-depth explanation why Summoner is arguably the worst DPS?

[Shizuna]

I've been reading up some of things that's been going on in this thread and I'm sure the people who are against SMN's getting a ST damage buff, like other people have said, haven't played a SMN in current end-game content. They're too afraid of change and they think BLM is going to be in the same spot as before. They wanna justify that BLM deserves to do higher damage all around cause of the utilities SMN's have which is battle ress, lesser CD on E4E, and better virus.

I agree with the people who pointed out that BLM is better at AoE, ST, and resource management than SMN. For utility, that's a somewhat different matter, but that still shouldn't be the sole reason for how BLM's should do everything good in FCOB and some other encouters than a SMN should. Having infinite mp resource is kinda dumb and that's one of the reasons, a major one nonetheless, why there are more BLM's brought into FCOB than SMN's; it's just so that BRD can play paeon for melees/tanks who need it. Now, I'm not trying to fish for BLM nerfs or anything, but that's just something I wanted to express here. I do play BLM in dungeons, trials, and in CT. I'm actually working on the zodiac weapon right now and I just have to say BLM is in a really good position for any end-game content and for competitive/highly progressed statics. They have the potential to compete with melees in a striking dummy-like fight (ie: T8), but even in a somewhat movement-orientated fight, BLM can be slightly behind or closest to melees' DPS.

As for SMN, disregarding utility comparison, we're at the low end, concluding the fight below or sometimes equal to a BRD. The longer the fights and the less jumps there are the more DPS we lose in comparison to everyone else. Ask yourself this: what's the whole reason of bringing SMN over BLM in a long fight, if no one dies? A lot of people who have play/played SMN in end-game content will laugh and tell you there is no reason to play SMN, when BLM have the potential to do a lot more damage without a care for how long it is. This is how it was in progression. Yeah, sure, as more people get geared, the fights are easier and shorter, and that's when you see a boost in SMN's DPS. I know it is the case for me and my static. I have finally hit 500 DPS on t10 and I'm getting close to doing that in t12 (and I don't even have my i135 weapon yet) because of my static doing more damage and making the fights shorter. In conclusion, SMN's are reliant on how everyone is doing more DPS and making the fights shorter. When a new raid comes out, that won't be the case anymore in the beginning and everyone will have to start progression all over again then SMN's will suffer, but that depends on what SE is gonna throw out. I'm sure Alexander will have fights that will be just as long as the fights were at the start of FCOB.

BUT that's if SE doesn't do anything and keeps things the way they are, which is why I can't wait for what SE is going to bring in the future for SMN, looking at that article. If only it was looked at sooner though; I wouldn't have mind if just a piety increase was added on patch 2.5 honestly.

Anyways, if none of this go through the thick skulls of people who don't believe SMN should get a buff/change then I don't know what will.

[Dyvid]

Snip

So what is needed? MP or DPS buff? Which would make the biggest impact in SMN DPS? People aren't against buffs that help SMN in FCoB. We are against the claim that SMN is just a poor DPS all around and worthless in all forms of content. Sorry but that just isn't true.

[Shizuna]

So what is needed? MP or DPS buff? Which would make the biggest impact in SMN DPS? People aren't against buffs that help SMN in FCoB. We are against the claim that SMN is just a poor DPS all around and worthless in all forms of content. Sorry but that just isn't true.

I already said what is needed to be said and honestly, I'm not sure what is needed to make a bigger impact on SMN. I just wanted to talk about the reasons why SMN's need a buff for long fights (when I said other encounters, I really mean long fights that are over 7-8 minutes other than FCOB). I'm not here to support that SMN's aren't good in regular content; I never claimed that actually. All I did was talk about SMN's suffering in lengthy battles. I think SMN's are fine in "casual content," but I could care less about it, since I don't expend a lot of effort to do well in those fights.

[Odowla]

stuff

Either of them, singularily, will not be enough. So essentially it would need to be both.

I'm not talking in terms of DPS or anything. I'm talking in terms of just potencies. The potency-per-second of a Summoner is actually the lowest in the game as one of the DPS. Don't believe me? Go do some SCoB/FCoB with other competant DPS, and you will see what i'm talking about. The other DPS (namely, Melees and Bards) Do 220 to 250 PPS, with Bard being up to 300 (due to essentially "low damage" procs). Summoner? Does either less than 200, or BARELY 200 over a whole fight. That's a problem.

Then when the fight goes on past a certain number of minutes, or seconds, suddenly you lose an 80 potency per 2.5ish seconds (actually, it's closer to 2.3, lolspellspeed) spell so that you can freaking cast more dots. A dot might be 240 or 300 or whatever potency it is, but it does that over time; I mean, that's literally the definition of a DoT. No other class loses a large chunk of its damage that quickly, and if they do, someone will help them with that. A SMN doesnt have that.