Why did they make SMN harder to play?

[Ariomi]

Gotta wait for that 5.0 job remake again because square is struggling so hard with smn rn.

Correct me if I'm wrong, 4.0 tore down everything that Summoner had been built up to.

4 Dots - 2 Dots with a Dot cd.

Freely using skills in dreadwyrm trance to maximize damage - Ruin spam.
Clunky pet design, obliterating all Aoe Potential.

I still can't believe that one of the viable endgame Summoner openers have you use Ruin 2 or Ruin3 a combined total of thirty eight times..

If 5.0 is anything Like 4.0 Summoner will be a bigger threat to the party then they will be to anything else lol.

[SnugglesD]

as a SMN main in 3.x and now Lv70 SMN.. i absolutely disagree with your statement.

SMN in 3.x was very forgiving.
you can re-cast your shadow Flare to reposition it... (when tank move the mobs around etc)... in 4.0.. a 60 sec cd
in 3.x if you miss any aetherflow gague skill.. you just get delay on the dreadwyrm trance... but in 4.0 you get a delay on both dreadwyrm trance and summon bahamut.
if you use aetherflow while you are in Dreadwyrm trance.. GG. <<< I can't for the life of me figure out why they would do this.

.......remove tri-bind already.

Less forgiving =/= more difficult. Tri-disaster reset, changes to dot timers and removal of bio, changes to aetherflow, removal of spur, etc all equal out to making the job simpler. No more real dot management, much easier double weaving, no need to squeeze all of your damage and a whole aetherflow cool down into dwt. Yes, it's more punishing if you mess up, but it's harder to mess up now.

[KarstenS]

Less forgiving =/= more difficult. Tri-disaster reset, changes to dot timers and removal of bio, changes to aetherflow, removal of spur, etc all equal out to making the job simpler. No more real dot management, much easier double weaving, no need to squeeze all of your damage and a whole aetherflow cool down into dwt. Yes, it's more punishing if you mess up, but it's harder to mess up now.

The text nearby your Avatar says your Summoner is Lvl 62.

Maybe you can show us the source of your first hand experience? Maybe a video where you do an Omega Savage Dummy as a Summoner?

I've played Summoner for fun in 2.0 and 3.0 and now in 4.0 as my main. I've never had such a trouble with it before. One GCD to early or to late? Its a very hard issue now. In 2.0 or 3.0 it was mostly no big deal.

So I really must miss the most important thing that makes it so easy now.

[Xeronia]

I find 4.0 Summoner way harder then 3.0 and I also want to add that summoner feels like the class was rushed at the last moment. I say this as the job quest makes no sense for the reward. The otehr Summoner in my FC and I landed on "You know Allagan Rot as a DoT would have made more sense with that 70 job quest then Bahamut." We also arrived on the class feels way more clunky then it did in Heavensward and we both felt angered by RDM taking our utility and doing it better.

I can see where the problems came from though, we have to admit the Summoner camp as a whole can't make up it's mind about what the class should be. Personally I liked Heavensward where it was a DoT management class with some pet management but a lot of people wanted less DoTs and more pet management. I still think the best way to handle it would be pick which the class is and make a new job for the alternative next expansion.

[Dyvid]

Honestly I envy SCH now and that Quicken Aetherflow trait they got. That would help out so much with MP, DPS, and overall flow of the job. There are huge chucks of time we are just standing around casting ruin waiting for AF to refresh so we can get going again.

Devotion, just make it a party wide buff.

[Karshan]

Some friends don't understand when I say SMN has become a hard class to play.

Of course,the gameplay is easier. AF time, Transe, AF, Trans, Bahamut synced with 3rd aetherflow time. Nice. But just do it as you used to in 3.X and you're sure to be at 3500 DPS top. the best one in fflogs is at 4500 in i314 on dummy : good luck to reach that.
THAT is where difficulty is : not about playing the "basic" of the job (what I would call the braindead / stressed out-progress-death rotation), but playing it at its best. Really demanding, really punitive, extremely precise time windows, do THIS skill particularly at the 41th GCD EXACTLY or go lose 300 DPS, etc...
Of course I can go in Savage, but it's infuriating to have the hardest time of my life to go past my 3900 dummy parse, when I know some manage 4500. I was closer to them in 3.x, and being less efficient now with my main class (while the class has the same potential as the other), well that really pisses me off. Feel like I noobed out.

[Nirokun]

I can see where the problems came from though, we have to admit the Summoner camp as a whole can't make up it's mind about what the class should be. Personally I liked Heavensward where it was a DoT management class with some pet management but a lot of people wanted less DoTs and more pet management. I still think the best way to handle it would be pick which the class is and make a new job for the alternative next expansion.

I feel like there should be a poll, "Pick your main job", one vote per service account. Then, allow level-capped players of that job vote into another poll that will guide their direction (or re-work) going forward. That would give them some insight as to what we want, and leave it only to invested SMN main-job players. There's a lot of extra "noise" where other people chime in who are not invested nor play this job all the time.

[Claviusnex]

I feel like there should be a poll, "Pick your main job", one vote per service account. Then, allow level-capped players of that job vote into another poll that will guide their direction (or re-work) going forward. That would give them some insight as to what we want, and leave it only to invested SMN main-job players. There's a lot of extra "noise" where other people chime in who are not invested nor play this job all the time.

What would be nice is if SE were to develop and release for Summoner community review their high level design and the road map to where they want to take it. The thing is I don't think they have any idea themselves on what to do with or what they expect of the job.

[paradigmfellow]

Less forgiving =/= more difficult. Tri-disaster reset, changes to dot timers and removal of bio, changes to aetherflow, removal of spur, etc all equal out to making the job simpler. No more real dot management, much easier double weaving, no need to squeeze all of your damage and a whole aetherflow cool down into dwt. Yes, it's more punishing if you mess up, but it's harder to mess up now.

You don't have SMN level 70. Stop talking and try it out first before making claims.

[AishaNymph]

I don"t have 70smn and I already feeling its way harder to play
Hard in the sense that its so damn boring that I lost the will to play it anymore
Hope the developer team can make a re-revamp to make it fun again