Can someone give me an in-depth explanation why Summoner is arguably the worst DPS?

[ShinryuReishiki]

Personally, I'd like to see Enkindle with a 4 minute cooldown so it lines up with Rouse + Spur. As it is, it may as well be on a 6 minute cooldown. I only use it with just Rouse if it can hit multiple targets, or if waiting that minute would stop me from getting a third Enkindle.

So, I had a bunch of math done, and then Ifrit screwed it all up with his Enkindle. For some reason, Inferno does damage disproportionate to the listed potency, at least compared to his Burning Strike attack.

The difference is that Inferno is a Magic (Fire) attack while Burning Strike is a Blunt attack. Ifrit's physical attacks do less damage per potency than magical attacks. This is why even though Ifrit is doing 180 potency every 3s with Burning Strike + Auto Attack, the damage is only ~20% higher than Garuda's 100 potency Wind Blades.

Some attribute the damage per potency differing due to physical and magical defense of targets. Personally, I suspect that Ifrit's physical attacks use the Physical Damage stat of the weapon, such as Dreadwyrm Grimoire having 82 MD and 58 PD (Although it's not shown in game), but I haven't done any significant testing to support such a claim.

[Viridiana]

Some attribute the damage per potency differing due to physical and magical defense of targets. Personally, I suspect that Ifrit's physical attacks use the Physical Damage stat of the weapon, such as Dreadwyrm Grimoire having 82 MD and 58 PD (Although it's not shown in game), but I haven't done any significant testing to support such a claim.

The latter explanation seems much more likely, unless someone wants to explain why ladybugs outside Ul'dah should have the same defense stats as Bahamut.

[Romsca]

Vi, the concern I have is that currently enkindle will always be buffed by rouse since rouse has a 1 minute cooldown. If summoner pops spur when it is ready then it wouldn't up in time for enkindle. At a two minute cooldown, enkindle will always be ready with rouse and spur.

Ifrit was getting 500-600 initial with dot ticks 51-76 and 950-1000 with 96-101 ticks after rouse and spur on a single target. I have 75 WD with 533 int.
Did one test with buffed Garuda and I crit with 1971 on the hit.

Again, I am just saying I feel hesitant about a 2 minute cooldown. I agree there should be a boost in damage but I don't want a sudden spike making us too strong. All I know 2 minutes could be exactly what it should be.

[Akiza]

300 sec cool down- Rouse+Spur Enkindle does around 4-5 DPS
120 sec cool down- Rouse+Spur Enkindle does around 10-12 DPS
60 sec cool down- <Rouse Enkindle does around 12-15 DPS>< Rouse+Spur Enkindle does around 20-25 DPS>
30 sec cool down- <Rouse Enkindle does around 24-30 DPS> <Rouse +Spur Enkindle does around 40-50 DPS>

As you anyone can see from above reducing the cool down of Enkindle to [120s=6-7 DPS increase]-[ 60s=8-10 DPS increase]-[ 60s=12-15 DPS increase]-[ 30s=28-35 DPS increase.]

A 30 sec Enkindle won't blow up Summoner's DPS as some would suggests it will just be a modest 31 DPS increase.

[Romsca]

I don't know Akiza, I feel that 30 seconds would have a bigger impact than you are thinking. Even sneak attack with 500 potency is on a minute cool down. In a long fight like Bahamut not so bad, but the rest of the game.... I can picture running dungeons and dropping rouse/spur enkindle on large pulls for 500-600 potency per mob, every single pull. it would be more "summonerish", but that is a whole other conversation. We are currently not a nuke class and that would start us on that path.

[Akiza]

I don't know Akiza, I feel that 30 seconds would have a bigger impact than you are thinking. Even sneak attack with 500 potency is on a minute cool down. In a long fight like Bahamut not so bad, but the rest of the game.... I can picture running dungeons and dropping rouse/spur enkindle on large pulls for 500-600 potency per mob, every single pull. it would be more "summonerish", but that is a whole other conversation. We are currently not a nuke class and that would start us on that path.

If you take just the Summoner without taking into account the mage they're attached to it's a nuke class also Summoning Magic hits harder than Black Magic the trade off is they have poor mp management. Classes shouldn't be balanced around dungeons they should be balanced around the hardest content.

[Skeith-Adeline]

SMN doesn't hit harder than BLM either...?

[Viridiana]

SMN doesn't hit harder than BLM either...?

I assume he means in other FF games, where SMN gets the big mega-attacks that tend to be more powerful than even Flare.

[Romsca]

Akiza, along with a lot of other players, has this grand vision of what Summoner should be and it differs from what SE wants it to be. It's fun to speculate on how to improve our class, even imagine new abilities, but the truth is, we, the players, have no way of testing any changes we suggest nor do I think would SE devote time and money to coding and testing them. We don't even know if SE is even going to give summoner some tweaks before Heavensward. Well, SE certainly is not speaking to it's NA playerbase.

[Wizarus]

Akiza, along with a lot of other players, has this grand vision of what Summoner should be and it differs from what SE wants it to be. It's fun to speculate on how to improve our class, even imagine new abilities, but the truth is, we, the players, have no way of testing any changes we suggest nor do I think would SE devote time and money to coding and testing them. We don't even know if SE is even going to give summoner some tweaks before Heavensward. Well, SE certainly is not speaking to it's NA playerbase.

What exactly is SMN suppose to be then? Someone in another SMN thread said SMN is just Arcanist with Fester, and that's more or less what SMN is. Looking at SCH, all 5 abilities are unique and the pets changing completely with different abilities seperates it from Arcanist.