Splitting SMN in Two

[Dyvid]

Snip

So I agree with Dezzmont on this. Everyone views Egi as weak because of the visual design, not the DPS it's produces. There is actually combat data on unmentioned sites where you can see how much DPS the pets do. Also, I'm not sure why you keep calling Egi DoTs. They are, for a better word, a NPC that auto attacks but require input from Summoner to perform actions. Currently Summoner DPS splits between 65-70% player 30-35% pet. I would personally like to see a 50/50 split but I understand that the job does have the "mobility tax"; yes after doing relic grind in 50/60/70 24man raids again the job is very mobile because of DoTs, commanding Egi while moving, and instant cast from Trance. In fact the only spells you have to hard cast is Ruin and miasama on occasion.

But back to Dezz's point, if you replaced Garuda and Ifrit with say FFXI Avatars, most of the Egi complaints would die down.

As for the DoT complain, the real problem is SMN has too many mechanics that have built up over the years; DoTs, Aetherflow, Trance, Egi's, Demi's, Ruin Mage. Some of the stuff needs to be pruned or combined. DoT's have been apart of SMN since 2.0 but has been diminished over the years (old players will remember this: Miasama, Bio, Bio II, Shadowflare). DWT, Demi Bahamut; FWT + Demi Phoenix showcase another issue on how disjointed things have become in 5.XX. Aetherflow is another as it feels like a relic as well. Removing DoTs isn't really going to help Egi's feel better nor would adding them to a rotation Trance thing because people will still be put off by the design. Plus that would cut into the already established Trance rotation the job already has.

But the reality is SE has most likely finished their Summoner 6.0 design and all we can do is sit and wait for it to be reveled to the public.

[Flana]

But back to Dezz's point, if you replaced Garuda and Ifrit with say FFXI Avatars, most of the Egi complaints would die down.

I would infinitely rather have the current egis over the plastic action figures that just slide around. Not to mention just model swapping would do nothing for the major source of complaints, which is ability ghosting. If you want to solve that immediately, Demi pets have to go. Forced petswaps force in so much more jank than the egi's ever had before Stormblood. Not to mention this is a problem endemic to demis. If you deleted egis you would still have ghosting issues because the demi is a hard swap once the timer runs out.

[dezzmont]

But back to Dezz's point, if you replaced Garuda and Ifrit with say FFXI Avatars, most of the Egi complaints would die down.

I don't think its a modeling problem. Heck, even the model's animations themselves are quite decent. Its more effects and what the animations are.

Ifrit's base attack, for example, would actually be a pretty rad mid-grade melee attack (Like an upgraded rotation, or a minor oGCD). Its a cool side slash with a flame effect, just look at it!

But its actually going to look more like this. Or... worse, imagine like 3 other melee going ham on that dummy and also your casting spells too.

What would be an awesome ability for a samurai to cast looks terrible for a caster or ranged, because the jobs have different needs. For them, the animation needs to read clear and well from a distance and have a lot of impact. This is the case for their assaults too. Flaming Crush is... kinda an explosion? But its a melee sorta explosion, like inner release.

Caster and ranged 'impact animations' are subtly different than melee ones. Their particle effects are more 'busy' because the focus isn't on a character doing something awesome like screaming into the air Inner Release style, and they tend to 'rise' higher as a rule so you can see them. If you look at fire 4, deathflare, xenoglosy, pitch perfect, ect, you notice they try to fly over the 'melee line' so they aren't obstructed, or are giant pillars that you will definitely see. A subtle and clever method of making sure your cool spells aren't easily obstructed by your Warrior.

Only Inferno is really appropriate for a 'caster animation' and even then its sorta minor, and your character doesn't do too much. It would be nice for say... egi assault 1 or 2, but your capstone on a 2 minute cooldown? No way.

This is why I think an animation pass is so necessary. A lot of the animations would work fine for a melee and were designed from that perspective without really thinking of how they look to the summoner and how they fit into caster/ranged animations, which go out of their way to 'go high.' Which is really cool and clever and subtle design you might not notice unless your looking for it, and which is absent noticably from the egi.

In my opinion, the fix is admitting egi movement management is silly and only exists to let you pre-place devotion's AOE and to make some of your egi-centered AOEs frustratingly miss sometimes. Biting the bullet and making it your pokemon that follows you around and does ALL its attacks at range by your side frees you up to basically intertwine its cast animations with yours and allows you to design its 'impact' animations as caster/ranged animations, and get rid of all the pet control jank.