Summoner: if summoner is the first new class to be released what would you expect?

[Airget]

So it would be more like Morpher? Then smner and if that is the case that I would like orbs to be weapons and you can have different affinity's to the different beast classes. Always liked Morpher wish to see it in more then FFTA

The concept of "Astral Projection" could work if there was a limit to it. Basically a Summoner's body would stay in play and the avatar they are controlling would only be able to move a certain radius away from them. The further they move away the more MP it would cost to keep up the astral projection.

The main gimmick of this concept would be the proper placement of your character as well as proper usage of Avatar command to prevent to much hate going onto the player. Basically avatars would have 3 types of moves. Moves that give the player enmity, moves that give the avatar enmity and moves that give both the player and avatar enmity. The general idea is that when you are using this is a solo setting you have to be sure your avatar can keep the mobs attention on the avatar and not head after you since if they can defeat the one performing the astral projection the avatar will also be defeated.

[Felis]

Weapon: Whip
AF: a sexy green costume (sexy male and sexy female of course ^^)
Summons: Carbuncle, Fat Chocobo and Fenrir for the beginning

[Duelle]

Assuming Summoner is going to be a pet job, I would want it to be built on a less restrictive foundation. Then we can worry about avatars and whatnot. My suggestion would be:

Class: Evoker
Weapon: Crystal Orb, Tamagushi

(note: these are random levels selected)
1. Call
1. Attack - Summoned entity attacks target enemy.
5. Astral Burst - The avatar uses a concentrated magic attack.
7. Symbiosis - Sacrifice some HP to restore 2.5 times the amount to your avatar.
10. Astral Assault - The avatar uses an attack ability
17. Borrowed Burst - You borrow power from your avatar, releasing a magic attack of the same elemental alignment as your summoned avatar
20. Astral Ward - Your avatar uses a defensive or support-oriented ability
...and so on

The basic idea in this case is that the summoner's "abilities" have general names, but the actions themselves are specific for the avatar summoned. Say the SMN has Carbuncle out and they use Astral Ward. Carbuncle would use Wall (FFVII version) on the party. If the SMN had Diabolos out and used Astral Ward, then Diabolos would use Punishing Barbs. If it's Phoenix then Blaze Spikes, and so on.

Likewise, if the SMN uses Borrowed Power while Diabolos is out, the SMN therefore casts Demi. If it's Phoenix then the SMN casts Fire.

Astral Burst would be unique abilities that are native to the avatars but not on the same level as Astral Flow. Like Phoenix's Astral Burst could be Firebird, an AoE attack that does damage to the enemies and does 10% of the damage dealt to Phoenix, as opposed to its Astral Flow, Flames of Rebirth, which deals big damage and heals the party for a portion of the damage dealt.

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Another option would be the Evoker/SMN having only call and auto attack abilities, and the rest of their action bar being determined by the Avatar that's out. This would help assign roles to specific avatars (healing on carbucle, tanking on Golem, damage on Ixion, damage + heals on Phoenix).

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For both ideas, what I'm aiming for is the Summoner gaining abilities of their own from the Avatar, aside from having the Avatar's contributions to combat.

[WendyMarvell]

Unfortunately, I'm expecting it to be a hybrid DD and buffer, that is so weak in both (due to balancing) that it never gets used for any content...

Hopefully, SE surprises me with a good DD with some non-defensive buffs (different from bard).

The more hybrid a job is... the less chances we will actually use it ... just saying

[Shurrikhan]

Summoner is perhaps my favorite job -- and I hated the FFXI (pet) version of it.

Some ways to make it better:

Control Change: The summoner must maintain the summoning spell to keep the avatar out. Avatar appears and then player gains full control of it and can move around and pull special moves that deplete the SMN's MP (as opposed to TP) - no perpetuation cost, if the SMN sustains any damage, the avatar dissapears and the player regains control of SMN.

One Shot - Classic Style: Avatars appear in the same way they did from FFIII - FFIX. That is, they appear. pull off a super attack, and leave. This makes SMN more of a super mage than a pet job and it better reflects the way summoning worked traditionally. Every Avatar would have an assortment of abilities that expands as you level up. You select an ability, the Avatar appears, uses the ability, and is gone. Much more straight forward, and allows for greater variety of things for the SMN to do during a battle.

I'd rather see Summoner as summoning and being able to control his/her pets both directly and indirectly at his/her own choosing. Leave Bahamut nukes for some sort of aggregate battle regimen reform, centered through the summoner.

[Delmontyb]

It would be interesting if the HP of the summon was linked to the HP of the SMN.
Meaning if the summon dies, so does the SMN... (FFIV)

Anyway, if summoning a tank style monster, then the summoner's HP might get a boost too, etc... The SMN itself could end up being the most versatile class in the game. They could be healer, tank, DD, buff/debuff... it would all depend on how they do it of course, but ether way, I'm excited for the class and can't wait to give it a try.

[Shurrikhan]

Assuming Summoner is going to be a pet job, I would want it to be built on a less restrictive foundation. Then we can worry about avatars and whatnot. My suggestion would be:

Class: Evoker
Weapon: Crystal Orb, Tamagushi

Honestly this sounds more like what a "Conjurer" should be, but without the elemental basis. An "Evoker" by name usually refers to the evoking or outward movement of internal powers.

That's really the only complaint I have with it though. I would enjoy seeing this added to game. It's just that I'd prefer they finish off all possibilities for spell methodologies off the bat, rather than adding otherwise arbitrary classes just to pair with jobs that should be based on uses of the original schools of magic. Elemental/Spiritual/Arcane seems to me to be able to encapsulate everything in FF magic. The only problem then is the system, since Summoning would theoretically come from any of those sources -- live creatures and primals from CNJ, spirits and non-elemental / archetypal eidolens from THM, and elementals and anomalies from Arcanist.

[KamikazeMan]

I expect it to summon things.

[Kiroh]

I expect it to summon things.

Great, now that you say it I can't even expect THAT anymore. (Two years of being taught that any expectation will leave you disappointed.)

[Duelle]

Elemental/Spiritual/Arcane seems to me to be able to encapsulate everything in FF magic. The only problem then is the system, since Summoning would theoretically come from any of those sources -- live creatures and primals from CNJ, spirits and non-elemental / archetypal eidolens from THM, and elementals and anomalies from Arcanist.

We're going to have to choose one aspect and stick with it. Otherwise you run the risk of watering down the job. I think a good number of people favor avatars or primals over anything else. It's why people want the recurring avatars like Ramuh and Shiva and such. At the same time, I hope people are aware that the pool of usable summons is going to be smaller with gameplay design and the open world primals per XIV's storyline.