A Summoner Idea: Post 1.20 changes.

[MartaDemireux]

So, after the big change to abilities, addition of jobs and the like I think most of the other ideas for Summoner are outdated and would be near impossible to accomplish with the current system of only ~15 abilities. I got thinking and came up with the following rough idea. I didn't get into the nitty-gritty with recasts/MP costs but would suggest 5ish minutes on the summoning ability, 1-2 on the ability timers, maybe shared timers when it comes to physical/magical attacks or single/AoE targets (have to choose one or the other). Just thought I'd give everyone something to mull over, maybe give SE an idea that slipped their mind, who knows! Feel free to expand, share ideas, criticize, troll me into oblivion, so on and so forth.

The following is my idea for the current game build:

Disciple of Magic
Class: Evoker (EVK)
Job: Summoner (SMN) (EVK30/PGL15 with LNC abilities usable)
Main Hand: Jars/Vials
Key Item Slot: Idols/Cracked Idols (changeable mid-fight)

Idols: Each Idol would have a different element. If you equip "Idol of Light" and use "Evoke Spirit" it will summon Carbuncle, "Idol of Earth" for Golem etc. First Idol obtained when the Lv30 quest to unlock Summoner is finished. Idols would be gained through Job Quests or another sub-questing system. Pet is summoned by placing Idol inside of the Jar/Vial. Idols only usable on Summoner job.

Cracked Idols: These would be craftable lesser-spirits or elementals. "Cracked Idol of Light" would summon a Light Elemental. Elementals would lack buffing abilities and feature lower stats than their Idol counterparts. When crafted/purchased, the player uses the "Cracked Idol" as they would any other potion or food item. It then gets placed into the key item "Idol Pouch" that holds all "Idols" and "Cracked Idols." One "Cracked Idol" would allow you to summon the corresponding spirit 5 times.

Role: Damage and Support, minor healing. Pets capable of buffing the party (such as Golem using a stoneskin-like or defense ability), dealing single and AoE physical and Magical attacks. If pet dies or EVK/SMN runs out of MP the Spirit Dart line of attacks can be used to deal damage and recover some MP.

Pros: Ranged pet damage, can heal and support, highest MP of all classes.

Cons: Damage and support primarily dependent on pet, low HP, low defense, low magic attack, low healing potency.

Abilities/Spells (*denotes skill requires jar/vial equipped in main hand):

Lv 1: Evoke Spirit; uses jar/vial+idol/cracked idol to summon appropriate pet. Using while pet is out will banish the pet. Pet level equal to player's. *
Lv 1: Attack; Commands pet to auto-attack target.*
Lv 2: Return; Ceases pet's actions and returns to player's side.*
Lv 4: Aether Assault; Pet uses a single-target physical ability. Ability dependent on pet used.*
Lv 6: Spirit Dart; Non-elemental magic attack.
Lv 10: Aether Release; Pet uses a magical ability based on its element. Ability dependent on pet used.*
Lv 14: Transference; Transfers some of your HP to heal another - greater effect when used to heal your pet.
Lv 18: Aether Bond; Pet's elemental resistances will be applied to the player and surrounding party members for a short time.*
Lv 22: Aether Link; Infuses current pet's element into Spirit Dart/Spirit Blast/Spirit Impact for as long as the effect is active.*
Lv 26: Brevity; Replenishes some MP at the cost of TP.
Lv 30: Spirit Blast; Non-elemental magic attack. Chance to inflict 10 second paralyze effect on target when used in combo with Spirit Dart.*
Lv 34: Siphon; Drains HP from pet to replenish player's MP.*
Lv 38: Passive Channeling; Lowers player's enmity over time.
Lv 42: Aether Split; Next pet command will cost half MP. *
Lv 46: Spirit Impact; Non-elemental magic attack. Chance to restore MP in combo with Spirit Blast.*
Lv 50: Aether Infuse; Infuses pet with Aether increasing damage of next ability. Does not work with Astral Flow.*

Job Abilities:

Lv 30: Aether Rampage; Pet uses AoE physical attack.
Lv 35: Aether Blast; Pet releases magic AoE damage.
Lv 40: Aether Favor; While active, pet's attack and magic attack will weaken but surrounding party members will gain a boost. Boost dependent on pet.
Lv 45: Aether Support; Pet uses an AoE buff or debuff. Dependent upon which pet is used.
Lv 50: Astral Flow; Pet performs high damage AoE attack.

Traits:

Lv 8: Enhanced Spirit; Pet's attack and magic attack are raised.
lv 12: Enhanced MP; Increases MP by 5%.
Lv 16: Auto-refresh; 3MP/tic.
Lv 20: Swift Evoke Spirit; Recast time reduced.
Lv 24: Enhanced Transference; Healing boost and chance to remove one negative effect when used on pet.
Lv 28: Enhanced MP II; Increases MP by 10%.
Lv 32: Enhanced Spirit II; Pet's attack and magic attack are raised.
Lv 36: Enhanced Spirit HP; Increases pet's HP by 10%.
Lv 40: Auto-refresh II; 6MP/tic.
Lv 44: Swift Passive Channeling; recast time reduced.
Lv 48: Conserve MP; chance ability will cost 10-20% less MP.

[LazKai]

This is neat stuff. I'm a fan of FF's summoners so I too hope they make it in. In regards to the way you summon spirits, to promote job uniqueness I could see the spirit version being made available to the disciple of magic EVK, (pet elementals) that are generic, and to summon their more potent counterparts like Light Spirit > Carbuncle, Earth Spirit > Golem, you would need to be playing SMN. SMN would still have access to the lesser spirits if they so chose for MP conservation/efficiency and such.

The method of equipping idols that you suggested could turn into an inventory nightmare if it is indeed bound to the inventory itself, so I would suggest making a new slot for a key item that works similarly to job stones.

[MartaDemireux]

This is neat stuff. I'm a fan of FF's summoners so I too hope they make it in. In regards to the way you summon spirits, to promote job uniqueness I could see the spirit version being made available to the disciple of magic EVK, (pet elementals) that are generic, and to summon their more potent counterparts like Light Spirit > Carbuncle, Earth Spirit > Golem, you would need to be playing SMN. SMN would still have access to the lesser spirits if they so chose for MP conservation/efficiency and such.

The method of equipping idols that you suggested could turn into an inventory nightmare if it is indeed bound to the inventory itself, so I would suggest making a new slot for a key item that works similarly to job stones.

Yeah, I was thinking about the inventory issue. Key Items would be the way to go for sure, or a possible separate inventory/satchel/pouch.

As for spirits... that could be a complicated issue. I was kind of thinking the Idols could be obtained via job quests/job sidequests at 30 (barring the assumption I made that Carbuncle would be the base pet). They could then only equip them on SMN similar to AF. Maybe lesser spirits could be used on EVK only with craftable/purchasable (possibly expendable) Idols? Having elementals would be a good way to limit the support function for EVK and focus just on soloing damage while the spirit/avatar/esper would be able to buff and deal more damage in its role! Could differentiate them with "Idols" and "Cracked Idols" ... hmmm... *ponders more*

EDIT: I like the elemental idea. Rearranged some abilities and made the job abilities focus on AoE damage and buffing. Class abilities will focus on single target damage.

[LazKai]

Hmm, I'm not so keen on the idea of spirits based on consumable items, although it could be helpful to the economy. I'd rather them be purchased as scrolls (via gil, seals, etc) that gives you the key item for them. The recast timer on evoke spirit should be adequate enough to prevent abuse of using a lot of different spirits at once. As for the avatars/espers that are SMN exclusive, I say that they need to be earned via quest only, possibly after defeating them.

[MartaDemireux]

I liked the XI system of scrolls to learn spirits myself but I'm thinking expendable would be the way to go. Once everyone has the scrolls in XI there is no use for them; I'm thinking this could be a way to prevent stagnation. Could also lead to HQ Cracked Idols that could feature higher dps or something if they're crafted. A base Cracked Idol could be bought from the NPCs near guildleve counters for cheap and then the others could be done either the same way and/or crafted using common ingredients.

Agreed on Idols though. Carbuncle's Idol of Light could be obtained from the Lv30 quest that unlocks SMN and then that could open a sub-quest line to gather other Idols. They'd have to be separate from the job quests though I think, so people could still go on through and get the abilities, leaving other pets optional. And agreed that they should be fought, preferably in an epic solo battle that really tests your knowledge and skill of the SMN. I think the battle should scale with what level you do it at too so it's never an easy-peasy fight.

EDIT: What do people think about the secondary sub class abilities? I was thinking EVK30 CNJ15 in order to get SMN... but that leaves us with one other class to get abilities from. I was thinking either PGL or LNC... PGL for the self heal after Transference or LNC for the TP to use Brevity...

[LazKai]

Right, spirit scroll pacts in xi did have a tendency to stagnate for that reason. My idea was to make the scroll exclusive, purchasable via npc and a direct gil or seal sink. Possibly if you have the key item for a spirit activated they could make it so you aren't allowed to buy more than one scroll, just in case.

I wouldn't be too disappointed if it was implemented as a consumable item, just something that we'd get used to.

I like the idea of solo esper battles it could be based around level 40 (or 45) since to me that seems like the lowest level to retain some amount of difficulty for solo even at 50 (considering astral flow). A different option could be, dare I say it, level capped battles, though mentioning that seems to drive people away even when it can be balanced accurately.

edit: ^not to mention available at an earlier level. Lower level content (Do you need it?) ^^

[MartaDemireux]

I was thinking the solo fights could start at 30, right when you can become a Summoner. From there the esper's level would scale to yours so you're always faced with a challenging, fun fight no matter what level you are. Then you can do it low level and have the same experience if you rush straight to 50. I know in XI they had some fights that would scale in difficulty depending on how many people you brought in, a mechanic to match up the level shouldn't be much different. I think it would run very similar to Maat fight coding, really.

[Alhanelem]

I'm not sure summoner is going to be an actual job, since my understanding is the primals will be summoned by those mini player-formed companies, not by individuals.

[MartaDemireux]

I'm not sure summoner is going to be an actual job, since my understanding is the primals will be summoned by those mini player-formed companies, not by individuals.

They've said Summoner will be a job but it will summon lesser beings. It won't summon Ifrit/Shiva/etc but it will (likely, Yoshi mentioned him directly) get Carbuncle and whatever other lesser summons they think up.

From the interview:

Finalfantasy14.eu :

So far, we have been discovering the primals Ifrit and Batraal. Will it be possible in the future to summon them? Allowing primals to fight with us?

Naoki yoshida :

You will be able to summon them after 2.0 but with this ff14 we are considering these traditional primals such as ifrit and leviathan like a god. So I want to separate the traditional summoning system from these new primals. You will be able to summon 1 primal per 1 world, such as 1 ifrit for 1 world. So there will be ifrit, garuda, and so on but only 1 each. So with this new system Im planning to implement, the free companies who have defeated the primal have the ability to summon them. In the previous series, someone could summon Ifrit as well as other people could summon Ifrit. So there would be serval ifrits in one world but I don’t want it to be like that, so people will have to fight each other to have the ability to summon ifrit.

If summons are not considered primals, they will be more common and more people will be able to summon them. We will add the summoner class which can summon carbuncle but theyre different from primals. So primals can only be summons by free companies.


Finalfantasy14.eu :

In the future, will there be the appearance of less common primals? Such as doomtrain?

Naoki yoshida :

For the summoning class we would like to have smaller avatars, rather than large ones such as Ifrit. For doomtrain, if we see that it is suitable we will consider if it could be primal or avatar. We are still considering what we should add so please discuss this on your website or the official forum so we can see what avatars and primals players would like to see. If a certain primal makes players really happy we would like to add it. Personally I love ff7 knights of round but it is too hard to make.

[Jocko]

I wouldn't even think they would need to scale the fights if they would just slow the leveling pace way down and balance the pets so that you'd need them to get into progressively higher level parties