So, if I read the OP right, he's quitting because of a single class? Oh well, bon voyage I guess.

I'll freely admit that Summoner's aren't nearly as reliant on their summons as they were previously, but isn't that arguably a good thing? In FFXI, you were basically a backup healer using whatever skills your measly WHM job could provide in the gap between blood pacts. It wasn't particularly fun, though I admit the pets at least had some crazy damage at times.

Personally, I think the fault with summoner is the same as the fault with every spell ever. Elements are worthless. What is the point in so-called element aspect damage when it literally makes no difference to the target? Fireballs on Ifrit, Aero on Garuda, Stone on Titan and so forth... it makes no difference at all. So, when summoner comes into the game, they have no way of making them different from each other, which is why they've been shoe-horned into tank/range/melee roles.

Their biggest faux pas was the removal of elemental weaknesses, strengths and the various combat intricacies that such a system provides. Summoner is the result of one big bad decision, and is just doing the best it can in the world that was created for it.