Why are summoners so neglected?

[Duelle]

the constant demands and complaints about Summoner can make the Dev Team feel like it was just a waste of time to even put the job in the game to begin with because no one is ever satisfied with what they do with the job. They try to make it pet based, people bitch. They try to move away from it being pet based into a more traditional "Summoner" role, and people bitch they aren't getting enough pets.

I take issue with this, because sometimes the best approach is to fully flesh out your concept/implementation first and THEN add flashy new systems. The devs did with SMN what some have accused Sega of doing with Sonic the Hedgehog: doing a thing, and then abandoning it to reinvent the wheel instead of polishing and refining the design.

That's largely my beef with trances (aside from being VERY limited in terms of growth). I don't mind them in concept, but at least flesh out the damn pet system before you add them.