Quote Originally Posted by Mondschnee View Post
Many people are still leveling SMN because it's considered a "new" job and they wanna try it out. Just because they're playing it doesn't mean they're happy with it. Even I still play it but am I happy? Not really.
It's by no means representative, but in the forums I've been in, quite some people ended up disappointed with the rework upon reaching level cap, for various reasons.

Personally I agree with OP's post 100 %. The new SMN lacks flexibility, depth and buildup. I really hope something can be done about it, and hopefully not only in 2 years :/
The easiest path for that, if SE wanted to do it, is to revert some of what was lost from prior iterations. Here's what would be reasonable:
-1) Bring back DoTs and Bane.
-2) Make Summons oGCD.
-3) Add more Aetherflow and Enkindle Bahamut/Phoenix charges. I'm okay with these individually doing less if I get to press them more overall.
-4) We can't really use Ruin IV that much but a second or third charge would actually help out with oGCD Summons and the opener.
-5) We should straight up ditch Energy Drain/Siphon and bring back Aetherflow itself as an action so that we can let the Demi-Summons be independent again. This is just to fix the current issue of Summoner's getting their burst screwed by downtime and raid-buff alignment.
- 6) Obviously, nerf some of the current potencies so that we can make appropriate room for these mechanics. They're not enough of a barrier to justify moving Summoner's DPS up beyond where it is now (Hardcasting is the main thing holding us back there), but they would make it feel more fun to play, and that's the immediate goal.


There's also some things we explicitly cannot do:
-1) Can't bring back Egi Assaults or Tri-Disaster. They're clutter and Egi straight up do not work with this rotation. I'm okay accepting that loss.
-2) While I do miss hardcasting a lot, Ruin III can't be reworked without breaking something in the opener. The above is a good compromise.