Throwing the tome: 4.2 Summoner Feedback

[Kurando]

It's really not broken, but hey oh each to their own. Probably needs some tweaks though it's definitely not as bad as you make out.

[Neela]

Probably needs some tweaks though it's definitely not as bad as you make out.

Actually this ^^'

Throwing it at a wall to be precise...
1.) Damage-over-Time effects are worthless.
2.) Pets are broken, stupid, and slow.
3.) Demi-Bahamut is also broken, stupid, and slow.
4.) Core mechanical systems compete against each other.

Right then. If you read all that, thank you for your time. I'd be interested in hearing additional thoughts and discussions.

Playing Smn since AAR going through all its phases I saw a lot of discussions about their design, mechanics, problems and ideas for adjustments... and like Adventica6 said there were times smn was even less enjoyable especially at release and first endgame content without any burst and enkindle on a 3 mins cd as your "big boom" atk... aside of your DoT opinion nothing you have said actually brings something now to the table smns haven't discussed before...

1.) Damage-over-Time effects are worthless.
One of the most popular discussions back in the days was a better separation between smn and sch, especially after se claimed they won't stick to base cls for jobs in the future. so one of them was meant to lose the "dot cls" image and since smn already had dps problems in regards of endgame content it was obvious they would bring more burst related skills with upcoming patches (HW and ongoing). It might appear a bit weird that f.e Brds seem to handle their dots better than smn atm but thats just a feeling because we were used to be based on dots, dot-interactions & dot-buffs. Loosings skills like M2/shadowsflare spam, pot nerfs of remaining dots and less interactions like the missing con seem negativ at first but actually its just the result of leaving the "dot-cls" image moving to a more burst/spike dmg image – something the smn com asked for a long time. They are just a common part of your toolkit now like in every other dds-toolkit as well. Days of A+ DoTs might be over but thats far away from being worthless.

2.) Pets are broken, stupid, and slow.
nothing new - actually the oldest topic ever since...

3.) Demi-Bahamut is also broken, stupid, and slow.
nothing new as well, those were the complains since day 1. (its not a perfect argument but Bahamuts 100y range becomes handy if you are already out of range of your own skills at least)

4.) Core mechanical systems compete against each other.
Also the aetherlockout in trance is just a point of view - while you miss the option to refresh, im f.e are more happy about loosing the timer of dwt and the oppertunity to hold trance for a while not being forced to use it the next 13 sec without loosing it at all. There were 100+1 ideas how they could improve core mechanics but less to none are based the demand to reopen aether for trance. Its just another mechanic we were used to like the focus of dots tho... it feels unusual but in the end it isnt worse just different than before.

Good thing about smn tho... it never gets boring cause it always change its game-mechanic with every major update, I like that somehow but that could be just me :3

[Flana]

DoTs are now worthless because they suck up a third of the power in your kit to do nothing and never be interacted with in any meaningful way. You don't even cast them half the time because Tri-Disaster resets on entering Trance now. They are utterly meaningless to the job, and yet suck up a huge portion of the jobs power.

Just to compare some random numbers I looked up on 07S:

Higanbana is ~6% of a Samurai's dps. Thunder is ~7% for Black Mage. Bard's dots are ~19% of their over-all damage and they have a multitude of mechanics that interact with them. Summoner's dots contribute ~20% of their total damage (not counting Fester, which would be another ~7%) and do absolutely nothing except sit on the boss and force you to recast them once a minute.

Why do they even exist if they aren't going to do anything? That's power that could actually go into interactions or mechanics for the pets or new spells, but instead it's being squandered on something you ignore almost the entire fight.

(its not a perfect argument but Bahamuts 100y range becomes handy if you are already out of range of your own skills at least)

Does not actually do anything. Bahamut will not attack unless you force him to. He has a a worthless 70+ yards on all of his abilities because unless you attack or cast Enkindle Bahamut, he is content to sit around and waste your time. All of your spells (including Enkindle Bahamut) have a 25 yard range at maximum. Why? Who thought this was a good idea?