Why are summoners so neglected?

[Dyvid]

Well as I said... I agree with a thematic naming convention for abilities... and graffics type changes...

But any wholesale changes to its functionality is going to have the entire SMN community up in arms. It's literally that popular as is after the Heavensward changes.

It tells me the direction they moved in was the right one with Heavensward, and that was the thing people wanted out of the job. In other words, they made the right decision moving away from Pets.

Curious. Do you have any real data to back up this claim? All I can find is the JPN Eorzea Census of 2016 that shows SMN is down to 6% from 2015's 9%.

[NolLacnala]

But any wholesale changes to its functionality is going to have the entire SMN community up in arms. It's literally that popular as is after the Heavensward changes.

It tells me the direction they moved in was the right one with Heavensward, and that was the thing people wanted out of the job. In other words, they made the right decision moving away from Pets.

False Cause circle logic. They made the class PLAYABLE and FUNCTIONAL, especially in a raid environment, allowing it to be competitive. This in turn increased the number of people playing it.

Edit: I felt I should give you a history run down since you started playing recently. Summoner suffered from a very long time period where its issues kept it out of end game content and made it questionable at best for most others.

[Zumi]

Summoners aren't neglected they have the same amount of abilities as all other jobs.

[NaesakiAshwell]

False Cause circle logic. They made the class PLAYABLE and FUNCTIONAL, especially in a raid environment, allowing it to be competitive. This in turn increased the number of people playing it.

I personally never had an issue using Summoner in 2.0 - 2.55 raid content at all, it was perfectly playable and functional its just back then it was mostly dot management and very minor fester burst and the enkindle burst so it didn't interest the people who prefer a black mage style of play.

Also the ability to res was and still is exceptionally handy to have in raid environments, especially the 24mans.

[Silverquick]

False Cause circle logic. They made the class PLAYABLE and FUNCTIONAL, especially in a raid environment, allowing it to be competitive. This in turn increased the number of people playing it.

Edit: I felt I should give you a history run down since you started playing recently. Summoner suffered from a very long time period where its issues kept it out of end game content and made it questionable at best for most others.

I do get that, but it also proves my point...

It just shows pretty much directly, the changes they made for Heavensward were successful... this job is popular, powerful and viable now.

And taking some wildly different direction on it is only going to break it.

You are also probably right... its the New Players... like me... who do not see what the Class used to be... we see it for what it is now... ie the reality of the now... not the past.

Heavenward was like god's gift to Summoners.

All we know as new players, is how fun, powerful, and viable this class is now. And probably why my Server... Jenova (A newer server, packed with newer players) is packed full of Summoners as it stands now.

FFXIV quite literally righted the ship in Heavensward.

[NolLacnala]

I never had an issue using Summoner in 2.0 - 2.55 raid content at all, it was perfectly playable and functional...

So tell me, how did t10 go for you? The correct answer is "oom by first adds". The hard capped bane targets also didn't help. Granted, rez is useful, provided you had mana to cast it. Which SMN did not.

Bear in mind, final coil was the same time frame as DRG not being able to survive in t13...

[Rysir]

The greatest benefits summoner got in heavensward Id say was easily the new and not shit tri disaster and the focus on ruin III with the mp cost down of dreadwyrm trance which allows summoner to pretty much never run out of mp unless they are rezzing so you dont have to worry anywhere near as much about mp as before which would raise interest in the job.

[NolLacnala]

FFXIV quite literally righted the ship in Heavensward.

I agree that they made the Job functional, the part I disagreed with was

In other words, they made the right decision moving away from Pets.

It's impossible to "move away" from pets when pets were a tiny component of the Job to begin with. If they had a question popup when everyone logged in that asked "are you happy with the pets for SMN" the overwhelming majority would most likely tick no.

[AvenoMatt]

I like the idea of the summoner's spells becoming elemental aspected because of their summons but I think you should only unlock the aspected versions once you defeat said primal because it doesn't make sense for my tri-bind to summon shiva to freeze my target if I haven't encountered her yet.

Bio - Scorch/ifrit - add an additional 20pot of damage at cast. Total pot would be 260 instead of 240
Miasma - Zephyr/Garuda - Raises initial damage from 20 to 40. Total potency 320 instead of 300
Bio 2 - Terra/Titan - Adds an additional 20.l
Miasma 2 - Vortex/Leviathan - Raises initial pot to 40
Tri-bind - Glacial Burst/Shiva - Raises pot to 70
Shadow Flare - Thunder Flare/Odin. Adds an 5% haste effect to party members who enter.

[MOthe]

Summoners aren't neglected they have the same amount of abilities as all other jobs.

Half of them are the same as the Scholars. Including Psysick that don't make sense and eye for an eye.