I'm a smn from 11 and I liked the job but I felt more like support than a mage. In the past ff games smns were the kings of magic dmg. In 11 I couldn't compete with a blm.
In XIV I do feel that my pet isn't as bad ass as I'd expect but at the same time I don't feel handicapped when it's not alive. In 11 when my pet was down I was literally my sub job (whm). Until the blood pact cooldown wore off I felt dead weight. In XIV I do feel more like a warlock from WoW but at least I don't feel worthless without my pet. I got some pretty good dmg dealing ability's without the pet.
What I was thinking about with the whole egi is too small. What if we had an ability much like astral flow from 11. Something with a long cooldown, I hate to bring up that word because we already have issues with enkindles recast, but for a brief amount of time your pet was super charged and it changes into the actual primal for the duration?