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

[Ardan]

Akiza sounds likes s/he wants smn to be the best dps by far.....

That's Akiza in a nutshell.

[Judge_Xero]

Akiza sounds likes s/he wants smn to be the best dps by far.....

What do you mean? It is the best DPS, it just has lower output.

I'm all like casting my dots and stuff, jump in the Neurolink with my pet still attacking. GL to the rest of y'all, I'm safe.

[Sanguisio]

Cute...............

[Ryu_Hayabusaa]

Summoner should still have HIGHER ST DPS than BLM. It should be better than BLM on T10 and 11. BLM should reign supreme on T12 and 13. Right now BLM is better on EVERY fight. How people can claim there are no issues is just beyond me.

a smn should never be better than a blm. ever. real smn's tel out and switch to blm.

[Ryu_Hayabusaa]

Most Final Fantasy summons change the dynamic of the battle they usually save the day when players are on the verge of defeat.

Lol. yeah right.........................................

[YanderePrincess]

In single player Final Fantasy games players controlled five players and the summons were as strong as a player character.

Most FFs give you 4 characters. A few give 5. Others only gave 3.

In most FFs, summoners were simply aoe nuke spells (or an aoe buff or aoe heal/res). It didn't summon the entity as a separate character you could control. FFX is the first one I can think of where the summoned being is used directly rather than "summoned for one turn only" and it was stronger than the party as a whole, in theory (depended on the exact summon used).

[Akiza]

Most FFs give you 4 characters. A few give 5. Others only gave 3.

In most FFs, summoners were simply aoe nuke spells (or an aoe buff or aoe heal/res). It didn't summon the entity as a separate character you could control. FFX is the first one I can think of where the summoned being is used directly rather than "summoned for one turn only" and it was stronger than the party as a whole, in theory (depended on the exact summon used).

In an MMO a permanent pet can't be stronger than a party as a whole that would insanely op. SE can make the Summoner have a Dot phase and a bursts phase by transforming into Primals.

Summoner still should have higher single target damage then the Black Mage unless SE goes the WoW route and have the Summoner repent for turning to the Dark Arts and return to their spiritual routes like how some Warlocks repented and converted back to Shamans.

[YanderePrincess]

The Gladiator is an initiate of the Paladin and the Conjuror is an initiate of the White Mage.

Actually, that's not true. Gladiator and Paladin are completely unconnected, aside from using a similar fighting style (sword&board). The same is true for Conjuror and White Mage, as White Mage is traditionally exclusive to a single race.

[YanderePrincess]

"I can't think of a single Final Fantasy game where players only controlled one character either."

Lightning Returns... if you count it as a FF.

FF7 Dirge of Cerberus, FF7 Crisis Core, Kingdom Hearts . . .

[YanderePrincess]

In an MMO a permanent pet can't be stronger than a party as a whole that would insanely op. SE can make the Summoner have a Dot phase and a bursts phase by transforming into Primals.

The point is, to really keep Summoner in line with what it has traditionally been in past FF games, it would just be a reskin of Black Mage with summoned beings showing up only long enough to blast a nuke on a target, then going away. It wouldn't even be a pet class at all, just a "Nuke things" class. Honestly, in this respect, FFXI's summoners were more akin to traditional FF summoners.