I'll say. I still prefer Summoner to Red Mage in term of "fun". Red Mage is brain dead to the same degree than Summoner. The problem is Summoner is just awful in raid right now. Damage aside, in occurred so many times that Verraise just saved my group a wipe. It is so reliable and on speed and optimization then I just play Black Mage. Why would I play Summoner?

Summoner is rigid, the swiftcast dps boost is unreliable in progression since you keep it for raises. You can raise once and then it's hard raise. DPS optimization is pretty awkward. The only thing that Summoner is doing good is to delay Phoenix by 2-3 GCD on darkflames because you can solo 2 dark flames on SMN.

The rigid gamerplay is an issue. Searing Light and anything related to Carbuncle is an issue. Hell, if you move you still get awkward delays on your Ahk Morn / Revelation. Carbuncle placement is stupid because it resets at any summon and you can't hold your stuff because its a huge damage loss. We already see it in savage, it'll probably be worst in Dragonsong Refrain.