What are your thoughts on 2.0's summoning system?

[Theplatter]

But 2.0 hasn't come out yet...

[MrKupo]

I think, conceptually, the idea is very innovative and different (which people seem to like these days).

Now hear me out guys. The idea does indeed take away from the original Final Fantasy sense of the summon, but it takes gameplay deeper in a different sense. It turns what is normally an individual activity into several layers of community. In a single player FF, it is understandable that you can summon these gods because you are the only one playing. (and I'm not trying to talk about lore or anything like that) Having something that a community needs to work together on to achieve, and also decide together when to lose what they have achieved I think is a good enough reason to sacrifice individual summoning of a larger scale. Not only can this have an impact on Player community reputation, it can improve a sense of a world for each server.

Right now, there are a few linkshells that are somewhat well known (a few I'm sure can come to your mind). They earn reputation through the things they have recorded themselves and shared with the rest of us. The majority of FFXIV players are not in the same server as those linkshells.
With these primals, I see the devs hoping that having something that can be spread by word of mouth can improve a given world's population and community. Instead of knowing linkshells from other servers and 1 or 2 from your own, people will know the free companies within their own servers because the word will spread about who has done what. Even a Free-Company made of only a few players can gain notoriety for catching a primal. My hopes are that this idea will help improve server pride and server politics.
Free Company rivalries, underdogs, and popularity can be a result of this. It's hard to explain how I see this abstract relationship between Server Community and Primals, but I can see where the devs are going.

[Felis]

Interesting discussion here. I had a question for you guys that is somewhat off topic, but could support the OP when fleshed out.

How exactly is a SMN going to work in the current system? The current two mage jobs have very specific roles (healing and dmg). If SMN is a more supportive role, what job abilities will they actually have? What two support jobs will they be connected to?

I'm excited to see how it is implemented, but I'm having a difficult time seeing how they will actually work.

I'm interested in your thoughts. Thanks.

Maybe summoners use the skills of their summoned pets. A pet with DD skills, a pet with healing skills, a pet with support skills.

[Mijin]

I hope one on the community reps forwards this thread over to the devs. Considering the response to this seems to be overwhelmingly negative, they may want to rethink their position on this.

[LemmingKingXXX]

I'm wondering when people will stop the freakout speculation over summoner and wait for the system to debut before wishing it overwritten with their own personal vision, it's been going on since near the game's beginning. Hell's bells folks, we're even going to have a beta version in which to test some of this stuff out, if it's really that big of a problem like some of you alarmists are assuming, it can be changed and in a hurry. Calm down.

[Theplatter]

Guessing the reason people are freaking out over it is because summoner is a favorite job for many, and they don't want it to be modified too far from the version(s) they fell in love with.

[Mijin]

I'm wondering when people will stop the freakout speculation over summoner and wait for the system to debut before wishing it overwritten with their own personal vision, it's been going on since near the game's beginning. Hell's bells folks, we're even going to have a beta version in which to test some of this stuff out, if it's really that big of a problem like some of you alarmists are assuming, it can be changed and in a hurry. Calm down.

The information given in the interview with Yoshida is hardly ambiguous... He paints a very clear picture of what this summoning system is going to be like for the most part... While we still don't know some of the facts like what the hell the purpose is of this, or what the repetitive tasks are that your linkshell has to do to be able to use the summon, I think enough information has been given for people to make a hypothesis that this summoning system is going to be stupid.

[LemmingKingXXX]

Guessing the reason people are freaking out over it is because summoner is a favorite job for many, and they don't want it to be modified too far from the version(s) they fell in love with.

That's exactly why I don't understand all the alarmistic speculation, if they love it so much they really need to be sure they hate it, all this speculation does it either prop up unrealistic or antagonistic hopes, or create pessimism which can only serve to cloud judgements when the real thing is experienced. Summoning rarely remains a constant system in the final fantasy world, and I'd think that anyone familiar with the series should be cognizant of that reality, you'll just have to wait and see how you like the approach they want to try with this version. Again, if you really hate it, and enough people feel the same (~30 posters on some thread isn't enough), the beta is an excellent place to get changes implemented.
Edit:

The information given in the interview with Yoshida is hardly ambiguous... He paints a very clear picture of what this summoning system is going to be like for the most part... While we still don't know some of the facts like what the hell the purpose is of this, or what the repetitive tasks are that your linkshell has to do to be able to use the summon, I think enough information has been given for people to make a hypothesis that this summoning system is going to be stupid.

Hypothesis is an excellent tool in forming theories, but they really aren't worth a damn without actual evidence, and there will probably be ample time for fine tuning should the system turn out to be a universally panned idea. Who knows, maybe a lot more people will end up liking it rather than disliking it.

[Mijin]

That's exactly why I don't understand all the alarmistic speculation, if they love it so much they really need to be sure they hate it, all this speculation does it either prop up unrealistic or antagonistic hopes, or create pessimism which can only serve to cloud judgements when the real thing is experienced. Summoning rarely remains a constant system in the final fantasy world, and I'd think that anyone familiar with the series should be cognizant of that reality, you'll just have to wait and see how you like the approach they want to try with this version. Again, if you really hate it, and enough people feel the same (~30 posters on some thread isn't enough), the beta is an excellent place to get changes implemented.

I invite you to read the original post where there is no mention whatsoever of the summoner class. This thread is about the new primal system, not SMN.

[Ryujin_Ketu]

All in all the idea of the zone changing when one is summoned is pretty damn cool, but I'm not too sure about only 1 shell being able to cast it within a 2 week period and then others having to wait. (more than likely this will change or our interpretation is way off)

I DO thin they shouldn't be "easy" to obtain and it should be a trial to obtain them. Maybe, like Ifrit, make an extreme version of each or a very in-depth instance that requires complete team work etc...

I don't think 1 primal at a time per server is a good answer to summoning, but all we can do is wait and see!