The reason Summoner needs revamp threads keep popping up

[Ardan]

Ok, challenge: Take a shot of your favorite drink every time Akiza says something outrageous or stupid. Just as an FYI I'm not responsible for any self inflicted damage.

[Yoohre_WildRiver]

Ok, challenge: Take a shot of your favorite drink every time Akiza says something outrageous or stupid. Just as an FYI I'm not responsible for any self inflicted damage.

Do I TaKe A ShOoT EvErY TiMe ShE GeTs QuOtEd ToO?

...hic...

[Ardan]

Do I TaKe A ShOoT EvErY TiMe ShE GeTs QuOtEd ToO?

...hic...

For the safety of humanity everywhere, no.

[Wolf_Shay]

I think it's too late to revert to a previous save file...

[i2agnarok]

Everybody out of the pool.
There will be another thread on this in a few days.
Please look forward to it.

[Worm]

It looks like you guys in the DPS forum have your own problems too, huh?

[Akiza]

They could change the underwhelming Enkindle which has a 300s cd and make it worth it's long cool down by having it make the Egi temporarily become it's Parent Primal for 20s then do it's ultimate attack.

[MercuryD]

I'll even give you the explanation again, to save you the work of having to search.

Please, rewatch the cutscenes of the job quests. It explicitly states that

Quote Originally Posted by Ymhitra
In order to manifest these obedient incarnations of the beastmen's savage deities, one must first defeat a primal and capture its aetheric essence.

The keyword is capture.

Quote Originally Posted by Ymhitra
Now, you must focus. Visualize the aether flowing through you, a vibrant current of energy transforming into living fire. Hold this image in your mind, and the raging heat of your life force shall spawn an egi wreathed in flames!

This COULD sounds as if you use ambient aether but...

Quote Originally Posted by Ymhitra
Instead of fire, however, you will be concentrating on shifting your aetheric balance towards the spectrum of earth. Once you have achieved the required state of earthen affinity, the primal's captured essence will tumble forth and coalesce into the stony form of Titan-Egi.

Here she states explicitly that you call the captured essence of the primal.

Quote Originally Posted by Ymhitra
I sense Garuda's restless essence railing within the confines of your aetheric channels. It is time we granted it release with the Austerities of Wind.

"Within the confines of your aetheric channels."
Captured, again, being the operative term.

So, in closing, summoning consists of a few steps:

1) Defeat the primal and take its essence into yourself. (We assume this occurs by all who defeat a primal and survive, not just summoners.)
2) Find a place in which the aetheric balance is strongly shifted to support that primal, i.e., Sagolii desert for Ifrit.
3) While in that place, shift your personal aetheric essence to match that element and call the egi out.
4) The egi will be wild, having the qualities of the primal it was torn from. Defeat it.
5) After defeating it, you will have access to the egi. From here on you can do steps 1 and 3 in order to summon the Egi for your use.

[i2agnarok]

I'll even give you the explanation again, to save you the work of having to search.

Stahp. Run away. I made this mistake already.

[AzucenaC]

What I find pretty funny is that Akiza pulled the definition of a Summoner from a Wikia page, which is not an official source from Square Enix by any means. Part of Wikia mission statement is

Unleash the power of knowledge as influence. The collaborative media movement shows us that many minds are better than one. Wikia provides a collaborative publishing platform on which everyone - really, everyone - can share their passion and knowledge on subjects that range from video games, movies, TV, and books to cars, cooking, crafts, education, and travel. By doing so, we both unleash the expert and satisfy the curiosity in everyone.

And even the Wikia I found on Summoners has no clear set definition of what it is, generally just a hodgepodge of different roles. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Summoner

The only constant that I can find is that no two Summoners are alike.