The Egi Conundrum: Heavensward and Beyond!

[Zohar_Lahar]

Shiva was also confirmed by Yoshi as the Egi that's cute shrouded in Ice.

Do you have a link?

[SoloWingMetatron]

Do you have a link?

Here you go: Translation from the F.A.T.E In Tokyo Event (Scroll to the sub section "About Summoner")
http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/120...9-Translations

As you can see Yoshi-P confirms Levi and Ramuh as Egi, and also hints at the confirmation of a Shiva Egi. He also acknowledges the unbalance between the three current Egi and claims to be working on that.

[SoloWingMetatron]

Here, Bismark doesn't look like he's water-aspected, but rather wind-aspected instead (given he's flying through the clouds).
But who knows at this point...we'll have to see once the actual expansion comes out.

Bismarck does indeed look like he would be wind aspected at first glance. But since Garuda is already a wind aspected Primal I feel it would be more likely for Bismarck to be a different aspect. Unless of course it's possible to have more then one Primal/Egi of the same aspect.

But with the confirmation of three new Egi for Heavensward (Levi, Ramuh, Shiva) I am really interested to see how each will play/differ, or will they just simply fall into the typical paradigm of Tank, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS again?

[Akiza]

The problem with Egis is they don't play a role in the party outside of soaking damage. Each Egi needs a niche role to play in the party.
Ifrit- single target bursts
Titan- party wide hp shield that increases maximum hp.
Garuda-AoE Bursts
Leviathan- Support Pet provide party wide increases the amount of hp restored by healing spells
Ramuh - AoE Debuffer Pet
Shiva- provide party wide reduction in damage recieved.

[Exodus-E]

But since Garuda is already a wind aspected Primal I feel it would be more likely for Bismarck to be a different aspect. Unless of course it's possible to have more then one Primal/Egi of the same aspect.

I think it's very possible.
After all, we have Ifrit and Belias, as well as

Phoenix, as shown in T12

for Fire-aspected Primals thus far, so...

[SoloWingMetatron]

I think it's very possible.
After all, we have Ifrit and Belias, as well as

Phoenix, as shown in T12

for Fire-aspected Primals thus far, so...

Very true, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be able to get more than one Primal/Egi of the same aspect. Perhaps that's why the Summon command abilities are so ambiguously named/described. For example Summon III's description is "Summons an attacker-type pet to fight at your side". This could suggest that more than one type of attacker Egi could be summoned via this command in the future.

It would be nice to see each Egi have a unique role though. I feel Levi would be a great candidate for AoE DPS, Ramuh could provide stuns and paralysis, and Shiva could freeze and provide heavy/slow debuffs. However I feel in regards to Ramuh and Shiva, they will still have a general DPS focus and any debuffs/status ailments they provide will come as a knock on effect from one of their attacks.

[Akiza]

Garuda should be the caster AoE Pet
Leviathan should be the melee AoE Pet.
Shiva and Ramuh I agree with.
Ifrit should be Melee
Titan should provide shield buffs.

[SoloWingMetatron]

Well in regards to Ifrit and Titan, we know Yoshi-P has acknowledged the balance issues between the three current Egi. But I wonder how he actually plans to tackle this and bring Ifrit and Titan on par with Garuda, and ultimately on par with the new trio as I assume the new Egi will not have the same balance issues. Also in terms of debuffs/status ailments, every Egi has at least one attack that inflicts these as a knock on effect. The only problem is the duration of these debuffs/status ailments are far too short. Personally I think the duration of these effects should be increased so they last longer than just a couple of seconds. This would mean every Egi would then provide some form of useful support/utility without being dedicated to a support role.

I also think the Egi are the perfect way to sort out SMN's DPS issues. All the Egi need is an increase to their damage output to allow SMN to be on par with BLM.

[Jandor]

I don't think perfect balance is such a big concern. I'd prefer to make sure they all have a niche and that swapping them mid-fight can become a common tactic.

[Jranmaia]

Until they add some form mechanic revolving around swapping summons mid fight rather than just summoning 1 at the beginning I honestly hope they don't add any new summons outside of skins for existing ones because if they act like Summon III its going to be a case of we have 2-3 wasted skill slots since one egi out of the combat ones will be the mathematically superior one and will be a repeat of the one pet fits all situation.