SMN redesign in expansion?

[Zohar_Lahar]

Hope the devs will do something besides continue to ignore these 100's of threads. :/

They need to overhaul it with Heavensward, for certain. It doesn't feel enough like a Summoner, and doesn't properly distinguish itself from Arcanist like how Scholar does. And as ranged DPS, it feels very awkward compared to BLM.

[Alistaire]

They'd be ignoring the people that like the job as it currently is.

Not to mention infuriating them for changing what is currently a very good job at all the content except FCoB. Changing game mechanics over what is essentially a lore concern should never ever happen.

It'll get adjustments based on their MP usage because that needs addressing.

It will not get overhauled/rebooted/redesigned because some people think it's not "summoner" enough. This isn't a game like ffxi was or nes/snes games where the player can just sit back and order a pet around. This game's summoner is a perfect compromise between the extremes of what people want a smn to do and what this game requires each player to handle in mechanics.

[Fatshine]

I am in the middle when it comes to this. On one side there are people that say hell no, and on the other there are people that say it's not "Summoner-y" enough. Here is my opinion, I absolutely love the job. It was my first 50 and my main job. I have done so much research and DPS testing to be the best Summoner I can be. I plowed my way through content, and here I am now, progressing through Final Coil. SE please DO NOT drastically change my job just because people say it's not what they expected. Do not make me relearn a job I love risking the fact that it can be ruined and become unviable 100% by changing all the skills. What can be done?

Short Term: Fix our MP - Increase our potency
Long term: Add skills that MAKE me feel more "Summoner-y". How? Perhaps an instant pet switch, or perhaps a temporary pet appears out of our books to support the party or debuff the enemy.

There IS a middle ground guys. There's doesn't have to be an extreme change to ruin it for everyone.

[AniCelestine]

I'm just giving a suggestion that MIGHT work:

1. Re-name Summoner to High Arcanist or something like that
2. Remove Summon III, replace with some sort of mp-regenating skill,
3. or if High Arcanist's piety to mp ratio/piety is increased for higher income of mp via Aether flow then replace Summon III with a damage cool down or a contagion-like skill (so we have Emerald Carbuncle's Contagion-like skill and our own Contagion-like skill = less mp spent on DoTs)
4. Make a completely new job (one of those neat no-class ones) to be Summoner so that people who want to play as Summoner and not a Dot+pet class can do so.

Just some possibilities(without alterin current summoner/High Arcanist, as I named it here cause no better name for now, too much) to make both parties happy: the ones that like current summoner(me, but kinda forced to roll monk for now in FcoB progression) and the ones that don't like the current summoner and want more "summoner-y" as said many times.

[Sunako]

I'm just giving a suggestion that MIGHT work:[LIST=1][*]Remove Summon III, replace with some sort of mp-regenating skill,

Removing summon 3 would be huge nerf for us. Ifrit can do lot more damage than garuda. Even unlimited mp can not compensate that damage what ifrit can do over garuda.

[Asheilin]

I'm just giving a suggestion that MIGHT work:

1. Re-name Summoner to High Arcanist or something like that
2. Remove Summon III, replace with some sort of mp-regenating skill,
3. or if High Arcanist's piety to mp ratio/piety is increased for higher income of mp via Aether flow then replace Summon III with a damage cool down or a contagion-like skill (so we have Emerald Carbuncle's Contagion-like skill and our own Contagion-like skill = less mp spent on DoTs)
4. Make a completely new job (one of those neat no-class ones) to be Summoner so that people who want to play as Summoner and not a Dot+pet class can do so.

Just some possibilities(without alterin current summoner/High Arcanist, as I named it here cause no better name for now, too much) to make both parties happy: the ones that like current summoner(me, but kinda forced to roll monk for now in FcoB progression) and the ones that don't like the current summoner and want more "summoner-y" as said many times.

This would probably be ideal for everyone who keeps the SMN threads going. It allows those who love its current set to stay that way but would give Summoners the true feel of their job. OP idea is good, being similar to XI would be good, something that means your a SUMMONER you spend your whole gameplay enacting your Summons to the parties betterment.
@ Sunako
ok, so keep Summon 3 and rename it Ruby Carbuncle. ;p Should still have Contagion as a player ability though.

[Akiza]

Solution to Summoner
1. The Summoner is an Arcanist with Fester so SE should rename the job to Arcanist.
2. SE should make the Summoner a Pet Job with spells based around Channeling Aether and Summoning.

[Nyremis]

I have put a good amount of time into the current Summoner job and like a lot of people I personally have issues with it that detract from the experience I was expecting to have. I think for what it is, a dot + pet class it has its place, but as others have mentioned it does not feel like a "summoner" job. At least that is the case in terms of Final Fantasy lore and it would also be unfair for SE to take away the current Summoner job after some people have considered it a main for so long. It needs to be renamed and SE does need to put in a summoner job that actually feels appropriate to its title. This is what I end wanting after playing the current Summoner(Arcanist) right now. I guess at this point we have to hope SE will take in all the massive amounts of feedback and concerns from players and find either a happy medium or some sort of solution that we can all live with.

[Zedd702]

They need to overhaul it with Heavensward, for certain. It doesn't feel enough like a Summoner, and doesn't properly distinguish itself from Arcanist like how Scholar does. And as ranged DPS, it feels very awkward compared to BLM.

I really agree with this. Summoner spamming poison and miasma seemed really odd to me, they shoulda been more along the lines of aetheric and elemental spells. I'd like to see shadowflare as a targeted AoE with a DoT element vs what is is now. They should've had spells like:

Pearl: (holy/spirit damage) to replace Ruin, but keep blind effect.
Demi/Demi II: small burst damage with a DoT (replace Bio & Bio II)
Pain/Meltdown: Damage plus heavy effect w/ minor DoT (Make comparible to Miasma/Miasma II and replace)
Whirlwind: could act like shadowflare does now, but it would be something along the lines of the tornadoes the dragon spawns in SV NM.

With something like the above this would still make use of Contagion, Bane & Fester, but make SMN a bit more tolerable to play. It's my favorite class in the game, but atm it is very lackluster in comparison to BLM and needs to be different in comparison to SCH/ACN

Also I miss thunder

[Dwill]

They need to overhaul it with Heavensward, for certain. It doesn't feel enough like a Summoner, and doesn't properly distinguish itself from Arcanist like how Scholar does. And as ranged DPS, it feels very awkward compared to BLM.

No they don't. You might not like the job but plenty of other people do. Summoner always differ between each Final Fantasy they appear in (White Mages with summons, Black Mages with summons, remove the party for remote control of the Summon, heavy nuker with nearly nothing else). This is just a different take on the job and if you don't like it, feel free to change job.