SMN Can Still Bring the Pain

[Isala]

Should we really bring this very special case of a noob AST thinking that Noct is still OP and went to use it even after seeing the a SMN is on the other side?

Don't you know? You're a scrub if you even think about using Diurnal Sect... Or, what was it they called me again? Discount White Mage?

[Ryuko]

Honestly, the SMN nerfs were not too awful. I was expecting worse. I can STILL kill someone alone, but it requires a lot of coordination and CC-locking the healer (or whoever might come to my target's rescue). The few times I've just burst someone down with no issue was when the enemy healer was occupied/cc'd or the person I was fighting was alone/isolated. This was, of course, in groups that weren't coordinated or focusing a single person. When a group coordinates and targets a single person, SMN can still be pretty deadly... especially with Bane. Oh, someone came to the healer's rescue? I'll Bane and Painflare all of you, and then finish with Deathflare. If the healer's not dead, most of you will be around half HP... And then the healer has to prioritize, and SMN really is about applying steady 'pressure'... or at least that's how they were in 50 PvP. I'm okay with that role.

With the 'buff' to casting, I don't need to be quite as careful/reliant on Equanimity, so that is nice... but then again, I was never that reliant on it anyway. SMN have so many instants, plus Tri-Disaster. I felt really bad for BLM so I'm really curious to hear feedback from BLM about this change.

So... SMN isn't exactly a faceroll class anymore. I haven't seen as many in arena. But, I do like that I have to be more strategic.

My one real complaint is the reduction of DoT timers. I understand why they did it (since it is so much damage), but it really is 'padded' damage because it's not going to kill anyone unless they're really being attacked by direct damage. The reason the DoT timer reduction bugs me is because, if you do have to hard cast... you have waaaaay less uptime, especially if you Bane. Also, in PvP... it is sort of natural to 'start' with Miasma because it reduces healing received, but now that Miasma only lasts 15 seconds, it might be best to apply it in the standard PvE rotation (Bio II > Miasma > Bio) because the target will only really start to get healed when the healer notices they are taking damage (first fester, all dots applied).

[Vaeria]

So... SMN isn't exactly a faceroll class anymore. I haven't seen as many in arena. But, I do like that I have to be more strategic.

...and do you know WHY you havent seen as many in the arena? because theyve been replaced by blm.....which STILL sucks. So basically...by gimping smn..SE has encouraged the spread of a problem that was bigger than smn to begin with. Life is irony..../sigh.

[Sunako]

I think nerfing dot duration was kinda stupid nerf, that was whole point of summoner spreading dots. It is really that big surprice for community aoe damage is doing more overall damage than singletarget damage? I can tell you the secret, aoe healing heal too more than singletarget heals.

[MrPresident]

...and do you know WHY you havent seen as many in the arena? because theyve been replaced by blm.....which STILL sucks. So basically...by gimping smn..SE has encouraged the spread of a problem that was bigger than smn to begin with. Life is irony..../sigh.

Yep. They haven't balanced it at all, they've just gimped one class for another.

[Evangela]

Dots damages don't mean much when they don't actually kill anyone. They can do high damages on paper (on match results) but they're high because of of dots that keep getting healed. And people use those numbers as a fake proof to complain to SE that the job was overpowered.