Summoner doesn't feel like it Summons.

[ArcaneCarbuncle]

FFTA disagrees with this sentiment.

BLM spells were powerful in a small area, Summons smashed the entire field and IIRC were the only things that actually could just push a button and affect the entire field.

If you want to boil away all the flavor of Summoner to "hurdur particle effect go smash", then literally every job is a Black Mage resin, now and in previous iterations.

The visual flair of a job is just as important as the mechanical aspects that define the kit.

At the end of day, A Black Mage is hurling giant fireballs and snowballs around while a Summoner is calling down Primals to blast their targets and draw on their elements to empower other spells.

Summons in FFT did not smash the entire field, they just had a slightly bigger radius then black mage spells at a higher relative MP cost and charge time. And even then, one outlier doesn't change the fact that from FF4 to 7 Summoning was effectively reskinned black magic. (FF3 had 2 effects per summon and starting with FF8 the concept stated to get more interactive.
Not saying you're wrong that Visuals and flavour carry a job as much as mechanics, but it's also true to say that there are more exciting ways to present the concept of summoning then simple spell effects.

As for FFXIVs elemental attunement, I find it hard to relate that to summoning since that's usually a completely different job concept altogether (Spellbalde says hi)
In a way you could argue that if ShB SMN was just WoW Warlock then EW SMN is just Spellblade using Summons to enchant instead of elemental Magic. You're free to like that concept of course, but it's technically not summoning.

[Atamis]

Summons in FFT did not smash the entire field, they just had a slightly bigger radius then black mage spells at a higher relative MP cost and charge time.

Sylve said FFTA, Tactics advance, where they did indeed smash the entire board. Tactics (Original ps1 title) was different and was just small-medium area.

While I agree Summoner was in essence an advanced black mage, I feel that grossly oversimplified it, as Summoners were also white mages, and general support classes. A few dedicated Summoner characters only had access to white or black as basic spells yes, but the summons themselves generally covered a wide range of stuff from carbuncle shields/reflect, to party wide raises, huge party heals, and all types of elemental attacks.
I think the essence of summoner generally boils down to using spiritual beings to effect the flow of battle. A black mage casting fire 1/2/3 doesn't have the same effect as casting Ifrit even if they essentially do the same fire damage. This of course varies wildly by game.

Its kinda weird to think about, I can't really think of anything that comes close to the final fantasy style of summoner. In other games a summoner is just a generic pet class with generic ghost-pets or minion swarms.

[NorthernLadMSP]

I completely disagree. I've never felt more like a summoner than I do now. I hope in the next expansion we get to add Shiva, Ramuh and Leviathan.

[zcrash970]

FFTA disagrees with this sentiment.

BLM spells were powerful in a small area, Summons smashed the entire field and IIRC were the only things that actually could just push a button and affect the entire field.

If you want to boil away all the flavor of Summoner to "hurdur particle effect go smash", then literally every job is a Black Mage resin, now and in previous iterations.

The visual flair of a job is just as important as the mechanical aspects that define the kit.

At the end of day, A Black Mage is hurling giant fireballs and snowballs around while a Summoner is calling down Primals to blast their targets and draw on their elements to empower other spells.

Are you thinking about the zodiac summons? Those affect everything on the map but SMN range was only slightly bigger than BLM and generally weaker

[Higashikata]

I dislike the new ruin mage. You summon the thing and then you just push green/red/yellow/purple/orange ruin

[Atamis]

LuL xiv might not be for you then. Everything is a ruin mage. Black mage casts red ruin until it time to cast bug red ruin and then blue ruin when they run out of mp
white sage uses green ruin to fill health bars until they use white ruin to dps

[ArcaneCarbuncle]

Sylve said FFTA, Tactics advance, where they did indeed smash the entire board. Tactics (Original ps1 title) was different and was just small-medium area.

While I agree Summoner was in essence an advanced black mage, I feel that grossly oversimplified it, as Summoners were also white mages, and general support classes. A few dedicated Summoner characters only had access to white or black as basic spells yes, but the summons themselves generally covered a wide range of stuff from carbuncle shields/reflect, to party wide raises, huge party heals, and all types of elemental attacks.
I think the essence of summoner generally boils down to using spiritual beings to effect the flow of battle. A black mage casting fire 1/2/3 doesn't have the same effect as casting Ifrit even if they essentially do the same fire damage. This of course varies wildly by game.

Its kinda weird to think about, I can't really think of anything that comes close to the final fantasy style of summoner. In other games a summoner is just a generic pet class with generic ghost-pets or minion swarms.

Still incorrect, you're thinking about Illusionist. Summoner in all the FFT titles are mostly the same.
Unless they're talking about the Totema, which are a different thing from the Summoner Job altogether.

It's fair to point out that FF Summoner has functions other then damage, but at the same time those aren't necessarily any more unique then the damage Summons are. They still, in effect, are reskinned spells other classes already have access to.
Which is why for me personally Summoner, or rather summoning as a concept, started to come into its own when the games started to treat the Summons as temporary characters. At the end it comes back to preference, and I'll state in yet again: People need to stop treating their preference as the 'correct' one, there is no one true FF Summoner

LuL xiv might not be for you then. Everything is a ruin mage. Black mage casts red ruin until it time to cast bug red ruin and then blue ruin when they run out of mp
white sage uses green ruin to fill health bars until they use white ruin to dps

Difference being that all those "Ruins" are visually distinct from each other, whereas EW SMNs Ruin spells are literally the same before lvl 72, and honestly also don't exactly get wildly different after that. Which in and of itself is fine given the concept; but I also can't blame people for preferring more unique visuals for their Filler spells.

Also, no offense, but I'll have to throw some shade here.
It's hilarious to me how you can state people are 'grossly overlimplifying' Summoner by calling it a reskinned Black Mage, but then turn around and grossly oversimplify other jobs visual traits just because someone stated they don't like SMNs. Seems a tad defensive

[Atamis]

Still incorrect, you're thinking about Illusionist. Summoner in all the FFT titles are mostly the same.
Unless they're talking about the Totema, which are a different thing from the Summoner Job altogether.

No i was referring to the totema because for all intents and purposes they functioned as additional summons and all of which were eventually reused as espers in xii, they're really no different than elder primals. I should have made the distinction, as yes, the actual summoner job had limited range.

[Higashikata]

LuL xiv might not be for you then. Everything is a ruin mage. Black mage casts red ruin until it time to cast bug red ruin and then blue ruin when they run out of mp
white sage uses green ruin to fill health bars until they use white ruin to dps

Yes, I agree. New summoner DPS rotation is very similar to that of a healer. Glad you agree too

[SieyaM]

Even that isn't much of an issue since you hardcast the first and then swiftcast the other one. Comes out real smooth. Just like Ruin/Tridisaster > Titan Spell > Mountain Buster are also butter smooth.

Garuda you can do whatever you want. Not sure if it's beneficial to do Ruin/AoE every 2 casts of a Garuda spell.

I've been swiftcasting Garuda's Astral Flow ability (can't remember the name) since it has such a long cast and feels like its bringing my momentum to a halt when I try to hard cast it.