Summoner feels really, really dumbed down now

[aveyond-dreams]

In addition, 14's Summons (aka Primals) actively affect and harm the environment from their very existence whereas in every other game they are just... there. Like, in 9, literally a castle just asleep that people live, train, and rule from. Or 6, where they, as Espers, sit around in a village in the own world and can actively fall in love with humans. So to say that 14's summoner should feel like all the others is just trying to force consistency upon a class that hasn't had much in the way of consistency across over 15 games outside of calling for something to do a thing.

You are correct in that the primals of FFXIV actively harm and drain the land of energy. And I would much rather be doing that using their signature abilities and trance direct damage spells than babysitting a stack of dots. Or worse, that era when "Ruination" was another thing to babysit. Also, Alexander is summoned *around* Castle Alexandria, it is not the castle itself.

The only one who keeps bringing up Poison Mage is you as a strawman defense for this horrible horrible job design. When people say they enjoyed pre 6.0 SMN you pounce on the whole DoTs like it was the only aspect of the job. I got bad bad news for you, it had multiple aspects to manage, which is most likely why they have a book as a weapon when "Traditionally FF Summoners didn't equip books, blah blah blah." The current design is akin to an intern's work with little thought to the jobs history or it's mechanics. It was a rush job and feels like a rush job; funny since 2.0 was a real rush job and that version of SMN had much more depth.

Cool story, the majority of players in game and outside your bubble disagree with your assessment of the present state of affairs. The dots were the most out of place part of Summoner's kit and made it feel like a Warlock whose poisons were more prominent than traditional Summon magic. No one cares that Summoner's weapon is a book. The current design is the result of the devs admitting there was no way forward with old Summoner. They took your ideas and ran with them for 8 years. That's a fantastic run by the way, but it's over now. It will get more abilities over time. If you do not want to wait, then you have the right to go play another job. Which is exactly what I ended up doing after dropping 5.0 Summoner in the trash after having levelled it as my first 80.

[Rolder50]

It will get more abilities over time. If you do not want to wait, then you have the right to go play another job. Which is exactly what I ended up doing after dropping 5.0 Summoner in the trash after having levelled it as my first 80.

Tell that to Machinist. People have been saying the same exact thing since 5.0 for them "Oh they'll add more buttons to make it more complex don't worry" And what did they get in Endwalker? One extra GCD that doesn't interact with anything else.

[rewd]

Tell that to Machinist. People have been saying the same exact thing since 5.0 for them "Oh they'll add more buttons to make it more complex don't worry" And what did they get in Endwalker? One extra GCD that doesn't interact with anything else.

I'm still waiting for the complexity on tanks and healers they were clearly going to add after 5.0 because what they did to them was clearly a basis to build upon and not the endgoal.

[mathias-merodach]

To the former, Alexander is actually rooted to castle Alexandria. If you watch the scene, you can see, as it is forming, the castle Alexandria shifting its own make up as it is Alexander is summoned. While you are corrected, and I was wrong that the castle and eidolon are one in the exact same, they are still joined
To the latter, you say this all the time. A class having dots does not connect or mean that something is a Warlock. However, hat is something that you just immediately jump to when someone brings up Summoner's dots. I do not want to ascribe motive to you, but it does bring up certain questions. Does that mean that Ninja was a warlock as well because it has a dot? That must also mean then that Paladin, with its two dots, must be a Warlock as well? That must also mean that a Madness Sorcerer in TOR is a Warlock as well? Warlocks are not just dots; it just equates to a magic user that draws their power from outside forces over their own. In my opinion, the dots made sense from not only the starting class of Arcanist, but because of what they would mean for both lore and in battle. Summoners became their own worst enemy which is why their power was eventually not enough to protect them. How might they have done that? Perhaps by wearing down masses of people that crossed them through poison and aether ruining abilities before shattering those that were still alive with their aether sucking Primals that they had bound to them. Warlocks are not just dots either. This is also further ties into the fact that summoner has not had a consistent enough identity to say that what 14's had been is inherently wrong. What we have traded is a class that had two amongst its other abilities to a Dungeons and Dragons Warlock that does nothing but spam Eldritch Blast and occasionally sending its Pact of the chain Imp out to go and do a flashy thing. And that is a play style that does not lend itself to doing much other than that one ability. And, as someone who only even bothered to experiment with casting classes because of old Summoner, if I wanted to see flashy animation Ruin mage I'd play 13 and put Lighting in caster mode.