It is time to get rid of them SE...

[Atamis]

Completely agree. Always hated the "Egi" concept. They look stupid, feel terrible, and operate like a rusty door hinge. Being able to glamour them all into randomly colored carbuncles was the first indication they abandoned the pet idea, and giving the summer the abilities the egi previously did on auto attack was frankly the nail in the coffin for pets, they are now one step away from being phased out entirely.

I am hoping they continue with the "demi" summons. While Bahamut being split into two parts feels terrible, Phoenix in particular feels great. I always look forward to that summon. It gives a party wide buff (which I wish was stronger and maybe auto ressed the nearest floor warmer), Has a simple rotation which allows for emergency plays given its spell speed perk, and looks true to concept.

I think if they adopted this "trance" aspect it would set the FFXIV summoner apart from previous versions while still remaining true to what people expect from the job. If i were in control of class design I would make the trance action off cooldown. A new gauge added that tracked current aether element based off certain spells (Aoe would align wind, Single target fire, ect) and after spending two aether flows you can to trance that primal. Ruin, your dots, and aoe, would switch to that primal's abilities and it behaves like a lesser form of the Demi summons, use "Deathflare" to end the trance and the primal does their signature ability. Giving you one Bahamut/Phoenix aether, or Demi aether to differentiate them.

Just using the "trance" aspect in general, I think, would be a far better and unique summoner option with many gameplay possibilities if they choose to put effort into summoner like they have dancer. One based entirely off of trance would leave future options open to many other primal appearances in our kit as many could just be cosmetic changes. The three button combo the current Phoenix uses is simple enough to work for everything and allows every primal to be properly represented. It's robust enough you could add melee themed primals and just have the summoner be in melee range to use those abilities, hopefully with the damage increase to make up for the danger.

[Verlyn]

Completely agree. Always hated the "Egi" concept. They look stupid, feel terrible, and operate like a rusty door hinge. Being able to glamour them all into randomly colored carbuncles was the first indication they abandoned the pet idea, and giving the summer the abilities the egi previously did on auto attack was frankly the nail in the coffin for pets, they are now one step away from being phased out entirely.

I am hoping they continue with the "demi" summons. While Bahamut being split into two parts feels terrible, Phoenix in particular feels great. I always look forward to that summon. It gives a party wide buff (which I wish was stronger and maybe auto ressed the nearest floor warmer), Has a simple rotation which allows for emergency plays given its spell speed perk, and looks true to concept.

I think if they adopted this "trance" aspect it would set the FFXIV summoner apart from previous versions while still remaining true to what people expect from the job. If i were in control of class design I would make the trance action off cooldown. A new gauge added that tracked current aether element based off certain spells (Aoe would align wind, Single target fire, ect) and after spending two aether flows you can to trance that primal. Ruin, your dots, and aoe, would switch to that primal's abilities and it behaves like a lesser form of the Demi summons, use "Deathflare" to end the trance and the primal does their signature ability. Giving you one Bahamut/Phoenix aether, or Demi aether to differentiate them.

Just using the "trance" aspect in general, I think, would be a far better and unique summoner option with many gameplay possibilities if they choose to put effort into summoner like they have dancer. One based entirely off of trance would leave future options open to many other primal appearances in our kit as many could just be cosmetic changes. The three button combo the current Phoenix uses is simple enough to work for everything and allows every primal to be properly represented. It's robust enough you could add melee themed primals and just have the summoner be in melee range to use those abilities, hopefully with the damage increase to make up for the danger.

To be honest, I really like this suggestion. Making trance the permanent mechanic for SMN feels right. And there's totally a way to keep egis 'temporarily' to preserve the lore while phasing them out of later gameplay entirely.

So taking the idea that Trance becomes more about trancing up the primary three primals (Ifrit/Garuda/Bahamut). You start us at level 30 with the fire/wind/earth aether building and "Summon Egi." You build up your needed aether, summon egi and the pet appears and does its silly DoT damage, Deathflare/Enkindle makes it do its ultimate and vanish. That's our early gameplay. It sets the stage for later mechanics, gets us used to that sort of gameplay, and our lore is intact.

When the Trance job quest comes along, it upgrades Summon Egi to Trance. Trance glamours our abilities to be themed after the primal and we no longer have the egis at all. Feels like a natural evolution instead.