SE, don't overthink Summoner 7.0. Just give people what they want. Just do it.

[remiff]

Carbuncle simply became a landing point for elemental summons not a particularly interesting design, The AIs of old EGIs were admittedly pretty bad but the devs could make the carbuncle more useful to the summoner than a simple statue that does nothing,
for example by removing the current etherflow system, the carbuncle could start the fight with 3 primal ether which allow to cast special ogcd spells of the carbuncle and even during summon time(don't disappear anymore during summon),
for example a single-target spell Poison Nails instant and ranged poison damage that does not inflict a dot(cost 1 ether), and aoe spell meteorite, inflict aoe damage (cost 1 ether),
and a personal support spell Carbuncle's Favor, which causes the summoner to gain 15% personal damage during 15s, with a 120s cooldown and give 2 stacks of reinforced ruins with no time limit. (cost 1 ether).

When 3 ether primals are consumed, the summoner is able to command carbuncle to cast Holy mist, a powerful attack,
the carbuncle accumulates ether on its own during battle and will fully recharge the 3 primals ether after 45s.

It's quite similar to the old system that was in Haevensward yes without Dreadwyrm Trance, but the etherflow with energy drain/siphon system feels actually wierd and obsolete.

[Mimilu]

Seeing as we know not one but two Shivas, I think it would be interesting if SMN got a mode where they could harness the powers of Shiva. (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

[True-to-Caesar]

Have you seen the PLD rework ?
You are not going to like what they’ll do to your SMN. Can’t imagine how they’ll gut dragoon too.

[VentVanitas]

Have you seen the PLD rework ?
You are not going to like what they’ll do to your SMN. Can’t imagine how they’ll gut dragoon too.

What will happen to SMN in 7.0 will likely be what happened to MCH and DRK in EW. They got one more button and that's it.

"Great reworks to build upon for future additions" my ass. SE is more than welcome to prove me wrong, but I doubt SMN will get anything worthwhile after seeing how they handled DRK, MCH and to some extent MNK after their reworks.

[remiff]

What will happen to SMN in 7.0 will likely be what happened to MCH and DRK in EW. They got one more button and that's it.

"Great reworks to build upon for future additions" my ass. SE is more than welcome to prove me wrong, but I doubt SMN will get anything worthwhile after seeing how they handled DRK, MCH and to some extent MNK after their reworks.

It's sad but it's obvious x).

They don't care about making a job completely ''no brain'' they had said in an interview ''that the future of final fantasy 14 was to make it as accessible as possible", because overall they saw the fact "easy jobs are those that are mostly played" even if it means making the rotations ultra basic and uninteresting, they casualize the game to ultimately make the game look like a solo experience for those who want it, it's a bit because of this mentality of the devs that they exaggerate on the simplification of ff14 jobs, and very often to the detriment of the gameplay.

[fulminating]

They seem to have missed that most played and most enjoyed aren't necessarily the same.

edit: I think that's probably a fairly easy trap to fall into - with their stated views, playing something that you don't enjoy must sound quite alien. Assuming of course their stated and actual views are the same. Similarly you'll have jobs that are just incredibly good in certain contexts (dark knight in raids for example) that they don't seem to appreciate the reason for the high playrate.

[Hysterior]

Rework the pre-LV90 as well. I like SMN at 90 but it's one of the job I find the least fun when level synced.

[Renathras]

Have you seen the PLD rework ?
You are not going to like what they’ll do to your SMN. Can’t imagine how they’ll gut dragoon too.

To be fair, PLD was a mess before and the rework is ARGUABLY net positive. Not all of the reworks are bad. Everything wrong with New PLD was wrong with Old PLD (button bloat, some convolusion, etc), and the new one is no more braindead than the other one, it just doesn't require ANTI-intuitive thinking to make it work, like some of Old PLD's cursed openers were really cursed. It's not a perfect rework/Job, but it's not the doom and gloom people that hate it have made it out to be. It lost DoTs that were rotationally impossible to miss (that is, there was no DoT juggling, it was just "alternate between melee combo 1 and melee combo 2), and likewise, the one on Swords was also part of your rotation. If you were just doing your standard rotation, it was impossible to miss them, unlike, say, BRD or the Healers where it's a separate action that has to actually be thought about, even if only just.

It's far more flexible than it was before, and plays a lot smoother once one makes the transition.

The only bits of clunk/silliness now are why FoF is a separate action from Requiescat, why Req is still a melee skill for who even knows what reason (they at least figured out GNB's Continuations should have more range...), and why Goring, Expaciation, and Circle of Scorn exist instead of combining them/folding their potency into other things since PLD is a Job that actually DOES have a good argument for having "button bloat" (it and AST) that would justify removing them or merging them. Circle should just have its potency folded into Expaciation and the Devs are already trying to get rid of DoTs, so it's odd to keep any that are on CDs (and by that, I mean ones that you "use on CD" or are part of your standard rotation and can't be missed) when those things can just do direct damage instead and not have to worry about hitting the buff/debuff cap on bosses anyway.

Folding Goring's damage into Swords, giving Req a 6-15y range (something in there), making FoF upgrade into Req instead of being a separate button, and making Spirits Within upgrade to Circle of Scorn (as just an AOE, not a DoT) then upgrade into Expaciation; those three things would more or less put PLD in a sweet spot.

No, SE's mucked up a lot of reworks, but the PLD one isn't one of them.

What will happen to SMN in 7.0 will likely be what happened to MCH and DRK in EW. They got one more button and that's it.

Honestly, they don't even need to add more buttons.

Just give us the other three "mainline" summons after using Phoenix and most people would be pretty happy and content with that. At least, people that like New SMN would be. People that don't won't be happy unless it's reverted to Old SMN, and that isn't happening anyway.

They seem to have missed that most played and most enjoyed aren't necessarily the same.

While true in a technical sense - that which is most played/popular may not be the most enjoyed - the converse is also true; if a lot of people ARE playing something, they probably enjoy it on at least some level, and Jobs that are the least played are GENERALLY going to be ones less people enjoy. The only exception is if a Job is just unplayable or considered griefing your team (e.g. pre-6.3 MCH)

A lot of you guys that hate New SMN don't seem to realize a lot of people genuinely enjoy it. That you don't enjoy it doesn't mean that a lot of people do not. It's often hard to hear, but one's opinion isn't automatically the opinion of the majority. I'd wager that most people that don't like New SMN aren't the ones playing it. While you can find some exceptions - someone wants to be the Caster, their Static wants a combat raise on it, and SMN's damage output right now is more than RDM's - that's not going to be the most common reason for people playing it, given the vast majority of players don't have Statics anyway, and would probably resist playing a Job they truly hated, and that most Statics don't try to force their members to play Jobs they truly hate.

[True-to-Caesar]

Boop

Old paladin : req buff > snowflakes > blade combo. Melee buff > melee combo > atonement then you go for goring blade when the Blades dot is gone. It was really simple and clear to use, not the best but still better than the rework in my eyes. The problem is that it didn’t fit in their 2min meta crap with a job focused on sustained damage and not burst.

New paladin : use both buffs at the same time, instantly spam the blade combo. It overall feels more clunky, and unintuitive. I’m both sad and glad I stopped playing it at 6.2 and focused on GNB & DRK. Both are just way more fun.

The only good changes are the buff for Sheltron, Instant Divine Veil, and the fact they finally added another defensive CD with Bulwark.

Cover has not been touched nor even reviewed, if they did, you got to ask yourself if they genuinely tested the job in real situations. Most useless skill in the game, too niche. Shield bash can be ok in dungeons while sprinting and using it on a stray and single mob between packs (so you may avoid some damage for a very short time). Still hardly used. Button bloat with the Sheltron and whatever the other skill name is when you apply its equivalent to an ally. Bland animations and VFX… So on and so forth.

No wonder it’s the less played tank job.

[Heroman3003]

The big final attack should clearly not be zodiark/hydaelyn or the triad or shinryu or anything. Memento Moogle is the obvious best choice for that.