[Dev 1082] Summoner Design Concept

[DNO]

IF they add SMN i would pee in my pants. thats the key here to being a FF game. AVATARS!!!!

[Anima]

They have some Interesting class that haven't been mentioned In-game, such as; Fencer, Enforcer and Mystic.[+Shepperd]
Also some Weaponskills which sounds pretty cool for the classes, here's one from GLA:

Stroke of Time: "Althyk blesses your sword, dealing fourfold slashing damage to the target. Increases attack power for each enfeebling effect on you. Removes enfeebling effects after execution."

LINK: .DAT Files Classes and Skills

[Evangela]

สวัสดี คุณอารียา ใจดี

[Rinsui]

@OP
I wouldn't hold my breath. I remember that, when directly confronted with that question during an interview, they mentioned that in Eorzea the Elemental Gods play a far too important role to be implemented in any way similar to how they were implemented in FFXI.

[SilvertearRen]

To be honest, guys. I do not see a SMN class being implemented in FFXIV.

I think it's more or less going to be like abilities, not much different from what you'd see in FF7 and some other Final Fantasies where you could summon for a turn or two of assistance. In this case of FFXIV, it would be for a set amount of time. This makes more sense than having a persistent summon.

Though I'm not saying persistent summons are a bad thing - I loved having Garuda follow me around like some lost puppy in XI. :3

[Airget]

Hm, they could do this, if you noticed the Kobold's have 3 "summon like" abilities:
Titan's Anger Deals Earth damage to targets in area of effect.
Titan's Boon Calls upon Titan's blessing to raise their guard.
Titan's Soul Deals Earth damage to a target.

As a Summoner, a Summoner could be a job for the Evoker Class.

Basically an Evoker is a class that can summon the astral energy of an avatar to use it's ability in short burst. A Summoner would have the ability to call them on as a pet.

Though in terms of how it works I think it would be better to have "Astral Projection" as a concept for SMN.

Instead of having control of your character and controlling your avatar through commands what if instead you entered a trance state in which you enter the avatars body through you own astral body.

While in this state you character can still be the target of attack and you can only move a certain distance from your starting point before you are pulled back into your body. The close you are to your body the lower the perp cost however the farther you stray away from the circular limit the more it cost to upkeep. Upon reaching 0MP or being killed by any enemy that targeted your defenseless body you would leave the astral state and re-enter your body.

The basic concept behind this SMN idea is basically make it an ability that is preferred to be used in group setting where there abilities are strong however if any enemy just sees you are the avatar they will aim for you seeing you as the easier target, so in a solo setting it would be harder to have the enemy focus on you when they see an easier target.

But ya, I just feel like that concept of SMN would fit better then the control a pet command, since I think it would make them a tad to powerful that way to have a pet you can just suicide to the enemy.

Another think about astral state, is you wouldn't be able to project yourself out while you are still in "battle mode" and if your avatar dies you are hit with the enfeeble "Astral fatigue" which is like weakness in which you can't summon for 3 mins. You can still use some basic Evoker Skill though.

Though the limitation of changing Evoker to Summoner would be this.

An Evoker has the ability to use avatars as a quick magic like the three examples above but at higher levels they can perform Incantation like "Titan's Fist" which would only call upon's Titan's Fist to deal massive AOE earth damage in the area of effect. So basically while an Evoker has the ability at higher levels to call upon the actually entity of an avatar to deal damage a Summoner has the ability to actually utilize them in combat however they are limited to some ability that they can't use.

Let's say an Evoker can call upon an avatars 2-hr like effect however a Summoner wouldn't be able to do that and would only have the advantage of some extra skills and the avatar's natural attributes and elemental resistances.

But ya as with anything I would like to see how they plan on working with the pet classes, I would like to see Summoner's take a more unique role rather then be defined as a "pet" class but rather a class that utilizes their ability to project their astral body in order to use their avatars properly.

[Anima]

I think The Ascian found some Stone/Relic/whatever that could hand them control over Leviathan in the game, It is also mentioned by someone somewhere in this forum but I forget >.>

[AreeyaJaidee]

Let's keep the thread going and let players decide.

FFXI had a good concept it just needed to be perfected.

This is our chance to show the devs we want a fresh start at correcting SMN and bringing it to FFXIV.

As far as Lore goes; any element that is native to the genre can be easily adapted to the current lore and vice versa. It's quite possible.

I'm an enthusiast so I will hold my breath.

For the naysayers: Please only post positive material regarding SMN here. Thanks

[SuzakuCMX]

They confirmed we will be getting summons, but it wasn't fleshed out yet and they had, at the time, not decided yet if it would be a class/job or if everyone would be able to summon.

EDIT: Oh and I think in the new Famitsu they said they were getting rid of action points for the action bar? Can't really remember.

[Rinsui]

P.S.: Seeing two summoners next to each other, both having sumoned their own tiny Shivas, I always though:
Poor Shiva. In FFVII and before, you were a goddess that only had to show up for a few seconds to deal devastating damage. In FFXI, you've degenerated into a pet on a lash.