Benchmark for a SMN thread. (Yes this again.)

[Huntington]

Changes to SMN that would be huge by this point are by and far not worth the coding and effort for SE to do, small patches and fixes can be made if errors in the AI for the pets or to add functions later on like new pets is there, but changing the class completely so it does not use DoTs is probably impossible by this point. Yet I thought of a way how if given the chance ever, SMN could feel like a pretty decent SMN, and would closely align to the usual motto that we summon creatures to fight for us.

SPOILERS FOR TALES OF XILLIA FOLLOW, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.



As Milla progresses through the story, she loses her access and ability to call upon the four great spirits. Efreet, Sylph, Gnome, and Undine. But at the very beginning of the story, you get a small taste of what God Mode is like and how great it feels. At this point, Milla could effectively, in Final Fantasy terms, be a Blue Mage or SMN with a sword(I don't know, roll with it). While summoning each of them I should add, Milla must stand still, but guides their attacks slightly as they perform them. Her attack combos that aren't physical are based around the four spirits at this point; Efreet does moves similar to Ifrit from XIV, and has wide cleaving attacks with his claws of flame, and a spew of fire like a flamethrower as the finisher that does lingering damage in a small AoE until he dissipates. Gnome drops in like he's performing Geocrush, then spins in an outward clockwise motion on the ground from the center of a circle outward to all enemies near him. Sylph does quick and fast dashing and slashing attacks to a single target, with small chances for AoE if another target is close enough. Undine can do small ranged bubble attacks and shoot a water cannon at enemies in a sweeping straight line. More for each of them, but I haven't played Xillia in a few months by this point and my memory is a tad foggy.

All of their attacks can be slightly affected based on the direction you tilt the analog stick while performing them. Holding up will tilt them upwards as they perform their attacks and so on. Examples of the Spirits(Ignore the rest of the video and just find the battles, if you're up for it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDl2NM-JQqw
END OF SPOILERS FOR TALES OF XILLIA.


This would be a great way to implement a new type of Summoner in my opinion. As of now, SMN already has a few motions and characteristics that could be molded into a SMN like what Milla can do. We summon them with the grimoire, signing a contract with the coalesced Aether and bringing them forth with the aide of three small crystals of their specific element. Once they're summoned though, they have no Perpetuation Cost(no MP drain for those that didn't play XI), and they stayed out as long as we wanted them to.

For my idea of what could be done, a few things could be easily changed, but more would likely need to be overhauled. If we were to use a SMN similar to Milla, we would likely not cast spells like DoTs or the like much. Our actions would be moves for each of the Egi's themselves. Wind Blade? We would have an action for that in the Arcanist, or Summoner, action list. Then brings forth another problem, Arcanist already has it's two branching jobs, and SCH shares the tree. It could be possible to easily change the actions around for Summoner, but only the Job actions, and possibly the pet actions. If we touch the Arcanist tree, it could mess things up for Scholar. That's a significant issue in of itself.

The main point though, is that if people don't like the Egis now, something like this could make them much more likable because of the style that the Job would have. You summon them like usual, and you guide them through their attacks with button presses, but we can make combos with them similar to how Milla controls the Spirits. Each button press for the corresponding spirit prolongs the combo they perform, and once they finish the combo, they dissipate, but corresponding with the summon that you initiated at the beginning, that one would continually reappear each time. But for no resummon cost until you change to another Egi or whatever we would call them. This engages us more in the pet's utility because we're controlling them and guiding their attacks, not simply playing over-watch and buffing them occasionally while Garuda turrets for example. If swapped around nicely, this could work well.

But since this is a lot to make happen, here's some issues that could arise:
1. The reworking of the Arcanist tree possibly, screwing over Scholar to make SMN work differently.
2. The Job would play differently, and we would become a sort of BLM, if we're moving and not guiding their attacks, we are effectively doing no DPS whatsoever.
3. Would this be balanced at all? The SMN is more involved with their summons and controlling them more directly, but we would then be doing no damage ourselves because our pets are our main source of damage.
One interesting point to add to #3 though, is that since the pets wouldn't be out constantly, they would just appear as we controlled them, they would take no damage unless they were out. If we had to move and the combo was stopped, they would still show up in the party list so we know what pet we have, but they would not be literally present so they would not get hit by any AoE moves and the like. Could be good, could be bad.

There's probably more issues that come to mind, but this is all off the top of my head. And to conclude this wall, this is all I think I have to produce at the moment. I'm here for the discussion so let's hear some comments and thoughts about this, and whether you think it's cool because it sounds like a new type of Summoner that doesn't just summon a pet for a "one and done" move. Or have one that stays out constantly but becomes something we just micro-manage, but instead something we directly control and guide constantly. If you don't like this idea at all, keep it concise and to the point, I know I've bugged a few people in the DPS section by this point, and I want constructive ideas and discussion. Not people still hurt in the rear hoping to make a funny one-liner, because I will add you to the ignore list at this point and I'm not tolerating that crap when I just want to speak about my ideas and enjoy this site.