Torn between Black Mage and Summoner!

[Havenchild]

The Ruin 2 vs Ruin 1 argument has been going on since launch of ARR. They do the same damage, and both can be used depending on the player. Some players see SMN as a melee range character to get the extra book hit in, while others (myself) don't really care about it. Both arguments have their pro's and cons. Personally, I'm against us being in melee range because of casting timers. We have to move enough as it is, and to having to add watching out for close attacks seems counterproductive for me. I may be wrong, but having the peace of mind that I can stand back and play range just makes things a bit easier for me. I hope that doesn't make me a bad smn...because I still melt things

It doesn't. But the risk of death is the mark of a true SMN!

Turn 2 Enrage, parts of Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 8, parts of Turn 9, Titan EX, Ifrit EX, Ramuh EX: The party is stacked behind or near the boss in all mainstream strats anyways. There is 0 additional risk of death.

This is pretty true.

Not sure what your idea of "before you finish casting" is. That's when the cast ends but before the animation finishes. Which is not unique to any spell.

Ruin 2 is done to avoid the "can't AA because I'm casting" thing.

I was confused by what you meant here initially. You are correct. It only auto-attacks if it's lined up with when the cast finishes, whereas by contrast the Auto-attack is more guaranteed in between instant cast skills.