Quote Originally Posted by Jijifli View Post
Actually that's more believable than this one, if the player doesn't swap to topaz.

Because emerald will hit everything with 1 spell, and you get the threat, meaning you're instantly bombarded with 20 mobs in your face hitting you hard. I did that with an alt and even on very easy I couldn't do it without changing pets just due to the sheer incoming damage.

Of course if you just used topaz you never get hit.
So i may be a bit of a masochist. I recently started working on SMN in my down time. For reasons i couldnt rightly explain, i decided that i wouldnt summon any carbuncles until i had a summoner soul stone. So i can report that you can actually get through the entire arcanist line using ruin, DoTs, energy drain, and fester. I had a combination of brand new gear and crafted. And while i have some understanding of caster play(being a BLM main), i was figuring the class out as i went. So yeah, is perfectly doable.