Quote Originally Posted by Tsukino View Post
I feel like they could have created some pretty easy solutions to multiples of these problems at a time. For instance, keep Carbuncle as our constant companion but make it so that rather than being replaced by the others while they're out, all the Aetherflow stuff is actually being done by Carbuncle, making Aetherflow more thematic, Carbuncle less pointless, and still giving SMN some buttons to press during cooldowns..
Yes to this^



Quote Originally Posted by Tsukino View Post
Or go the opposite direction and get rid of Carbuncle and Aetherflow/Ruin, and just make both spells and abilities all change to corresponding elements rather than just spells.
Never to this ^



And I've said this many many times before. Our problems aren't simple vs complex, hard vs easy, arcanist vs smn, dots vs direct damage, busy rotation vs chill, casts vs instants, my job fantasy vs your job fantasy, or anything like that. I'm 100% sure the complaints based on those features are symptoms, not the disease itself. And disagreements are caused by how we as individuals experience gameplay differently (numbers=feel vs mechanics=feel vs visuals=feel, being the most important for different people in different ratios)


What my problem is, is that at level 90, SMN feels like a level 90 CLASS, not a job (yes even with astral flow). It sure has buttons, but its buttons don't really do anything outside of the one button press. This job's EVERYTHING is uptime and buff alignment, which is just the basics of e-ver-y combat job. Summons and their rites are no different than a melee's 123 combo. Just "press X button to make the next button worth pressing", and that's ALL we have. Our actions aren't building towards anything, they're not augmenting anything it's just press button to do damage, make sure the buff is on you when your buttons are doing the most damage. There is literally no empowerment in the rotation, and that's what's causing it to feel underwhelming to us mechanics=feel oriented players. Anyone who is used to spreadsheeting out their rotation and potencies, or following rotations made by those players likely won't get that feeling, because they're not used to paying attention to those interactions (and those focused on visuals are just happy to see pretty colors)



One day, when I have the energy, I'll do a like detailed analysis on my experience with the new job, but currently I am mush brained @@,
But I'm firmly, FIRMLY, of the belief that carbuncle should ABSOLUTELY stay out permanently (maybe can go away with the demis) and provide some interactive mechanic that uses our gem summons to empower our demi summons.
It'll solve two problems with one feature (the loss of a pet job identity, and the lack of interactivity in our kit, which can cause the feeling that the job is too easy/simple.)

(every other complaint I have is about numbers (garuda and phoenix being weak), about visual clutter (let us glamour our big summons so that my raidgroup can SEE, and also because carbuncles are good), and about jank (Let the leveling summons attack from range with an aoe centered on the target like the final summons, and figure out how to let carbuncle cast while moving to stop ghosting))