Quote Originally Posted by Yukiko View Post
Just to throw in: Is SMN a real SMN?
Fundamentally they ARE. They're casters that summon powerful creatures to fight for them. In this case, though, instead of gigantic eidolons that would be wholly impractical for an MMO, they gave us elementals.
Essentially, SMNs derive less from past FF versions of summoner, and more from the EQ1+2 Magician and Necromancer classes: The former summons elementals to fight for them that are basically flying versions of the element, while the latter relies primarily on DoTs along with their pet.
Seriously the similarities are...kinda really strong.
And THEN we get the announcement that DRK is going to be a tank.
Well, see, EQ1 and 2 have a class called "Shadowknight"...it's a tank class that uses dark magic. Generally they don't have any abilities that drain their own health, though (well, they got some at one point, but they've fallen into the "neglected crap" pile that's so huge EQ1's spellbooks are over 255 pages long. Per class.
Calling it now: They'll function a lot like Shadowknights. Especially since, and I cannot emphasize this enough, having a tank with an ability that drains their HP is wholly impractical for how tanks function in this game.
In other words, having a damage sponge that hurts itself is like having a car powered by hamsters in wheels.