Starting the game as Arcanist is largely unplayable now

[CrimsonGunner]

So yeah, there is actually a massive problem with ARC/SMN.... this "rework" wasn't well prepared at all, in fact i even have doubt that it was tested at all by SE.

agreed that the rework arcanist/summoner probably wasn't tested cause with summoner, the pets become more irrelevant and its "nice to have but not that needed" and you end up abandoning summoning just for trance and fodder for bahamut/phoenix burst which in a way is sad and also very bad design wise.
arcanist quests can still be cleared but its probably a bit harder i guess from it used to be and what you guys had to go through.