Summoner and scholar should be split up.

[Sequora]

As much as I want his to happen, I'm pretty sure that there was an interview around the time heavenward was announced, yoshi had said There were no major plans for any drastic changes to the job system in 3.0. The only thing that was said was that the new jobs would not have bbarber classes.I think splitting the jobs would be a major change. I do think it needs to be done however

[Eloah]

I personally like the class/job as it is, because it plays on the historical aspect of Summoners from past games. Summons in most games were the main form of damage dealing for a party member, but to make that member more "usable" either the player on their own, or Square themselves gave that party member support abilities, like White Magic. And the same goes for Scholar but inverted. They were great at healing, but could use damaging spells if need be too. I like the setup because it shows how the two classes are basically the different sides of the same coin. They each have a specialty, but can perform the other if need be, and quite effectively too.

[Iromi]

Yes they should. If they don't make SMN more interesting in 3.0, I imagine we will see even less of us, me included.

[Hiruke]

I couldn't agree more that SMN and SCH should be split up. However, I wish SMN to remain more or less as it is now, and have the dps abilities for SCH be completely redesigned.

[Eloah]

Yes they should. If they don't make SMN more interesting in 3.0, I imagine we will see even less of us, me included.

I'm apparently in the minority, which will suck, if they drastically change either job. The only "major" change I wanna see for summoner, is pet viability and versatility; I am tired of people bitching one pet is better than another.They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I would love to be able to use any Egi, for anything, even Titan, anx not hear people bitch about it.

[Tex_Mex]

The main reason that people are so put off by the SMN aesthetic is that the class plays nothing like traditional summoners in Final Fantasy games. They weren't DoT classes, and their summons were nothing like the pets seen in FFXIV today.

SMN in Final Fantasy history has always been about massive burst damage from gigantic summoned creatures. I understand that this type of gameplay does not fit well into an MMO; however, I think the game would've been better off if they just skipped the SMN altogether. The class is nothing more than a clunky Pet/DoT class that doesn't fit well into the final fantasy universe.

I would prefer if they left the class as is, but just called it Arcanist (which is closer to what the class actually is). The class is not a summoner.

[Brianmj]

How else are you going to separate the two? Each of them would need its own skills. The changes I mentioned were mostly aesthetic. I love summoner. I think the aesthetics are really bland. I'm fine with it being a dot class with a pet. I just want more focus on the pet.

Yes, most of the changes you've mentioned were mostly aesthetic, it's the "more focus on the pet" part that worries me. Does this mean less fester or ruin? I have no idea what people's intentions are when they say that. I would like the pets to have more flair too. Nothing is going to happen to the current set of Egis, but maybe we'll see design changes with Levi and Ramuh. Personally, I would love it if they just reused the FF11 models, but for some reason this seems to rile people the wrong way.

[FrejyaAthenes]

The main reason that people are so put off by the SMN aesthetic is that the class plays nothing like traditional summoners in Final Fantasy games. They weren't DoT classes, and their summons were nothing like the pets seen in FFXIV today.

SMN in Final Fantasy history has always been about massive burst damage from gigantic summoned creatures. I understand that this type of gameplay does not fit well into an MMO; however, I think the game would've been better off if they just skipped the SMN altogether. The class is nothing more than a clunky Pet/DoT class that doesn't fit well into the final fantasy universe.

I would prefer if they left the class as is, but just called it Arcanist (which is closer to what the class actually is). The class is not a summoner.

Which is weird because isn't that what all the endgame content is based around? You'd think the more traditional summoner style'd fit right in.

[Eloah]

The main reason that people are so put off by the SMN aesthetic is that the class plays nothing like traditional summoners in Final Fantasy games. They weren't DoT classes, and their summons were nothing like the pets seen in FFXIV today.

SMN in Final Fantasy history has always been about massive burst damage from gigantic summoned creatures. I understand that this type of gameplay does not fit well into an MMO; however, I think the game would've been better off if they just skipped the SMN altogether. The class is nothing more than a clunky Pet/DoT class that doesn't fit well into the final fantasy universe.

I would prefer if they left the class as is, but just called it Arcanist (which is closer to what the class actually is). The class is not a summoner.

Every job in the series differs from itself in some way from each entry to the next, depending on how the game is structured. But there is always one key aspect that stays the same, and for summoners that is having a summon. Red Mages aren't always the same, sometimes they are better physically, other times better magically, and sometimes are that games version of a Rune/Mystic Knight or Spell Fencer, but they usually always have Dualcast. Blue Mages too, usually they are mage-y, with high magic stats and low physical stats, but in 11 they were great physical attackers, but they still had Blue Magic. Some games even combine jobs, like Dancer/Geomancer/Dragoon (Mog) or Machinist/Dragoon (Edgar) in 6 or the Dancer/Bard (Songstress) and Ranger/Blue Mage (Gun Mage) in 10-2. You have to look at whether the job embodies the main aspect of itself, and in this case Summoner does.

Also the summons in this game are okay; if you think about it they play similar to the 10 and 13 summons where we have them do "basic" attacks to the enemies before unleashing their "big" attack. Now the one issue I do wish they would resolve is making the summons more versatile. Currently "everyone" says Garuda is the best pet, how dare you use one of the others, but that Ifritis situational and that Titan is just for soloing. I wish they would make it so each pet has something that made them unique, but, allowed them to be similar enough so that I could use any pet I prefer. Hopefully when more pets are released this will be fixed.

And lastly, having Egis in this game makes perfect sense within the games lore. If you think about it the Primals are formed by a massive amount of "people" "praying" to the god to summon them, their power and size dependant on the amount of people who summon them and the aether used to give them a physical form. That being said, your summoner is ONE person, who is able to give the aether a physical form. Could SE adjust the size of the Egis, maybe make them a bit bigger, but having the smaller versions makes sense if you think about how the actual Primal is summoned.

[FrejyaAthenes]

Every job in the series differs from itself in some way from each entry to the next, depending on how the game is structured. But there is always one key aspect that stays the same, and for summoners that is having a summon.
...
You have to look at whether the job embodies the main aspect of itself, and in this case Summoner does.

The difference here between the current summoner and the Summoners of old is the importance placed on them. Rydia, Dagger, Eiko and Yuna were all hybrid summoners, but their stories and gameplay still had an emphasis on their summoning abilities. Here the story attempts it, but it falls flat when in gameplay your still just an Arcanist with Fester and uglier familiars. Your skill/worth as a summoner isn't based around the power of your summons or the control you have over them, but your ability to place DoTs and keep them up over the course of battle while your summons just...float and do stuff of no concequence.