7.0 SMN First Impressions

[Ianmaru]

Wouldn't it be appropriate to add to this thread about the lack of visual design uniqueness for the SMN? (Honestly, I've almost given up on the smn mechanics personally... there's nothing much I can say other than giving a like.)



If they must retain the mechanics of the Endwalker Summoner, it's disappointing that they haven't incorporated iconic Primals from FF14 to enhance the job's uniqueness. Currently, the Summoner lacks both in visual design and mechanical individuality.





In that case, how about a design where the six elementals are aligned under the elementals of Hydaelyn and Zodiark (umbral/astral)?
Yes, it does seem to overlap with the new EW job...
However, that job focuses on paint and digital colors, while this job is centered around Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Maybe it can be argued that the concepts of paint and Primals are different.

Yeah... I'm not even sure if this is a good idea myself. I just want to avoid the worst-case scenario

THIS. This is the very least they could do to make SMN happy. simply give us reskin of the lesser primals in the form of Ramuh Levi Shiva after Demi-Phoenix. Lackluster, but definitely would be less disappointing than the current Solar Bahamut.
if they want to put more effort, they can rearrange the 3 primals based on the umbral & astral alignment just like your 2nd pic, would work even without incorporating hydaelyn & zodiark, on top of giving each of them one unique utility skill so it wont be a complete reskin only.
if they want to go further, they could also let us have the 6 primals available to summon from the beginning, and give us full freedom to choose which 3 primals to summon after bahamut, and which 3 after phoenix. but if they do this then its definitely not 'simply reskin' anymore.
anyway I agree with everything you said.

The problem though is that if all the primals are just reskin of the others, down to their individual potencies, then isn't it the same atrocity as Solar Bahamut?

probably, yea. but it seems a lot of ppl agree that nobody asked for Solar Bahamut, while a lot of ppl have been asking for Shiva Ramuh Levi since Stormblood or even more. So I'd say Shiva Ramuh Levi reskin is still the better atrocity.

[jrollins89]

Blows my mind how hard FFXIV has consistently fumbled the bag in regards to Summoner, one of the absolute most iconic jobs / aspects of the Final Fantasy series. From having tiny popcorn-sized versions of Primals being the only "summons" for the job for a decade, to having Carbuncle do nothing but death-stare at the enemy, to this Solar Bahamut...

What do people usually look forward to in a new Pokemon game? New Pokemon right? So deciding on what new things to give to a Summoner in an expansion should be a no-brainer. An absolute free win for the dev team. An easy peasy way to garner hype. They have so many potential Primal models and animations just laying around with new ones added every expansion. But instead they choose this....

[CasterSvarog]

I'm genuinely wasn't expecting anything good after the live letter told us whats new with SMN, and damn i'm somehow even more unimpressed.
Nothing being done about SMN being so braindead easy because 'wait for 8.0 lol' despite being such easy fixes, like seriously, just make the summons all into oGcDs, make Topaz spells have a cast time, and having Carbuncle do literally anything, even a basic auto-attack, it is not hard.
But our new Demi isn't even a previously faced Primal, but just our totally Original Primal (Do not steal) instead of one of the half dozen other primals that would have worked better like Alexander, Odin or, my personal pick, Shinryu. And that's before getting into how, once again, Leviathan, Shiva and Ramuh are left to be asked for by players for a decade before they'll even consider adding them or even their damn Egi's via Glam.

[Supersnow845]

Hilariously solar Bahamut being a “unique” primal is actually the only good facet of the SMN changes because it’s the WOL’s representation of haedalyn which I think is some really good flavour for a job that’s been desperately lacking in flavour ever since the new job doesn’t match the old job lore

[halcywalcy]

People weren't hoping for changes they at least were hoping for new additions to this bland job after they gutted it. But all were getting is a new ogcd every 2 minutes

[SciWiz]

I really do not like Searing Flash. I have a huge problem with my Searing Light getting overwrote if I get slapped into a Roulette with another Summoner. I'll always be like "Hey! Searing Light doesn't stack, mind waiting until Phoenix to use it?" and 99% of the time the reply is Dead Silence as they continue to brainlessly press Searing the second its off CD, even if they enter a boss in like the middle of Garuda. That 1% of the time where you get Searing Light for both Baha and Phoenix is wonderful though, now with Searing Flash that's just not gonna be an option since Square is trying to force everyone to use their buffs, that was not a problem on SMN, but now if two even slightly competent SMNs are in the same instance, you'll have to cannibalize each other's buffs for that 600 potency during Raid Buff Window. It doesn't change the fact that you're still gonna have the keyboard roller just pressing Searing at random when they remember it, the unthinking ones who just hit Searing at the beginning of an encounter no matter what, and those Who Simply Will Not Cooperate. It is a very, very poor change.

The core of the problem is that this game does not Teach It's Players Well. Novice Hall sucks and the Mentor/Sprout System is a complete joke that most players just view as an "Achievement" or "oh if I grind this out I get rewards/a way to show status" and that's shown in these coming Job Changes. Where did the "feedback" that Square based all this off of come from? Balancing in any game where there are people actively interacting with each other, and some form of Skill Floor and Skill Ceiling, should be taking feedback and advice from changes from those At The Ceiling, these changes feel like they were pulled out of a hat.

Also Solar Bahamut is incredibly ugly.

[seolhyun]

solar bahamut is such a waste. could have been alexander and the heal could have been a "reverse time" thing or something. they only gave this skinny bahamut heal because we won't have phoenix as much. could have also added the other 3 ARR primals and let us choose which 3 for filler. half could be instant casts and the other half slower for more dmg. i would have even been happy with 1 dot coming back.

[Ramiee]

After careful analysis of the trailer and looking at hours of media tour release footage, I believe summoner might play exactly the same.

[ThorneDynasty]

After careful analysis of the trailer and looking at hours of media tour release footage, I believe summoner might play exactly the same.

I'd like the people who gaslighted us with the "but it's a good foundation for future improvements" excuse during 6.0 release to raise up their hands.

[rawker]

I'd like the people who gaslighted us with the "but it's a good foundation for future improvements" excuse during 6.0 release to raise up their hands.

Funny how they are now getting a taste of their own medicine.