It looks like it would be a delicate balance for sure. I don't know if DoTs were referenced, I'm reading up on the lore and the story so it doesn't say much though my guess, would be that we use so much concentration to summon and maintain the egi's that our talents can only be diverted for only so long (this is from a lore stand point only.) so Arcanists were able to create spells from their "arcane geometries" that didn't do a lot of damage initially but did them over time so we could put our focus back into the pets. Or maybe that's just a load of dung I spread around myself to mask the smell of disappointment...I will accept either! lol
Still, I guess if we are going by descriptions one of the things that stands out is how they make the pets in the descriptions defined as the defining power. Though that's not the case, I don't really fear Ifrit or Leviathan. I am afraid of that boat we fight on since apparently we can't swim. A bit of a downer to know that I'm a warrior of light that has travelled through space, time and taken down ancient evils yet I need floaties on my arms....and now all I can think about is Robin Hood Men in Tights and how Little John was drowning in the river..that's us.
I think besides just the pet skins being re-done we lack a lot of mechanics in this game to help each other out. I think there should be more party wide support (from all jobs), but that would come from our pets. I think there needs to be more debuffing on the mobs that isn't DPS based (Slow, Blind, Paralyze, Gravity-EvaDown). I feel going more into the pet is the best way to go, we are capped right now with what we need to do just to sustain our DoT's. So maybe you're right about removing them from SMN and ACN, and find another means of conjuring damage from the caster. Or even make a synergy of it from us and the pets. Say instead of Misama II, depending on the pet we have out, we get an elemental AoE DoT if they keep them around. Burn / Choke / Shock etc...
Though with 4.0, maybe they will change things. I do still enjoy my SMN, so I will complain a bit but in the end..I will always run in ready to book-slap the crap out of something.
True, they took out a rather large mechanic, so it is possible. I think it is possible to do it though we need to break a few things for it to happen...I'm sorry I am still picturing my Roe in a shallow puddle screaming he's drowning.