On Xelphatol and the Actual Summoner.

[Silverquick]

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was trying to say - I really do like playing pet classes! I just don't like XIV's SMN, and don't play it, because the pet I summon is basically a DoT that I can summon and ignore. Spamming DoTs and direct nukes is fine, and I have no problem with classes that use these mechanics, but I certainly don't expect them to be advertised to me as a summoner. A pet-focused job is different to a job that has a "fire and forget" pet that essentially doesn't do anything..

My friend... with all due respect here... that IS how the EQ Summoner and the EQ Necromancer worked... they were pet classes and incredibly powerful.

Its painfully obvious to me the FFXIV Devs went with a formula they know works... rather than attempt another abortion that was the FFXI Summoner.

This is a true pet class. And its even better than the EQ Summoner ad EQ Necromancer with regards to pet interaction.

[Jerbob]

My friend... with all due respect here... that IS how the EQ Summoner and the EQ Necromancer worked... they were pet classes and incredibly powerful.

Its painfully obvious to me the FFXIV Devs went with a formula they know works... rather than attempt another abortion that was the FFXI Summoner.

This is a true pet class. And its even better than the EQ Summoner ad EQ Necromancer with regards to pet interaction.

I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage as I don't know anything about these classes or the game they belong to. Whether they advertised themselves as pet jobs or not, if they are similar to XIV's SMN then they are not what this thread is about, which is pets that function in a meaningful and impactful way. No-one is going to argue that SMN doesn't have a pet at all, but even MCH has a pet. It's a pet job. No-one is going to convince me that MCH pet interaction is remotely stimulating.

It's also really important to note that the power of a job is literally meaningless in the context of this sort of discussion. It's the foundation that it's built upon that is relevant here - how it operates, not how big the numbers are. XIV's BLM forced into VIT gear with quartered spell potency still has a viable model - the numbers are literally irrelevant. XIV's current SMN may be a powerful damage dealer - again, completely irrelevant when we're discussing the basic foundations that the job is constructed upon.

In fact, I agree with you that FFXIV developers went with a formula that works mechanically, and that's an admirable approach! It's simply not an approach that I feel correlates with what we know about the Summoner job from Final Fantasy's history.

My original response was intended to demonstrate that some people's attitudes towards XI's SMN are outdated and flawed, in an attempt to prove that it is a valid model for pet jobs to emulate. All that was needed to transform it from the broken and ineffective job of 5-10 years ago to the useful, welcomed and uniquely capable job it is today was changing some numbers. To go back to a previous example, putting our XIV BLM back into the INT gear.

I don't want to put words into your mouth, but from my persecptive it appears that you have already formed an opinion on the matter that you aren't interested in changing. I don't really want to keep repeating myself.