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

[Dwill]

Honestly, in this respect, FFXI's summoners were more akin to traditional FF summoners.

And we all know how that went.

[Akiza]

SE could give the Summoner the Earth, Fire, Water and Wind spells from the Elementalist and improve the Pet Mechanics.

[Dyvid]

And we all know how that went.

Heh, /whm for weak heals or don't play it at all? This was sadly why I played BLM and COR in FFXI.

[Sen_Terrechant]

Heh, /whm for weak heals or don't play it at all? This was sadly why I played BLM and COR in FFXI.

Hey but it was PRETTY. Thats what everyone seems to want, a class that summons PRETTY primals but is useless in most serious content.

[Lavieh]

Hey but it was PRETTY. Thats what everyone seems to want, a class that summons PRETTY primals but is useless in most serious content.

Really ? Back at the 75 cap SMN was pretty crucial to high leveled content. They were excellent support and their DPS was insane. The only way to do Vrtra for months was the Kite/ SMN burn strat.

[Leonus]

Really ? Back at the 75 cap SMN was pretty crucial to high leveled content. They were excellent support and their DPS was insane. The only way to do Vrtra for months was the Kite/ SMN burn strat.

I don't remember smns damage in 11 ever being insane. They were usually used by subbing them in when their big attacks for their primals were ready and then subbed back out for actual DDs. I.E. mnks, sams, drks, blms, blus, wars, schs, drgs etc. They were also subbed out for brd, cors and rdms who had support abilities. Smn in 11 was not that great at all from what I remember at that level cap..

[Ardan]

Snip.

SMN never had insane damage and it still doesn't in XI's current state. Their only perks were consistent, hate-free damage, which is primarily why they were preferred for the kite strategy for Vrtra. As for support it became arguably garbage when Blue Mage and Scholar came out... until Alexander was released. For a couple years SMNs were pretty much only used for Alexander's Perfect Defense because it was that insanely overpowered. With proper gear a 99% damage reduction for 90 seconds was immense and was pretty much mandatory for any burn strategy on stuff like Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden back in the day.

SMN was never really stellar at anything. Alexander gave SMNs a spotlight that really only lasted for a brief moment before they were kicked out of the party for a DPS after they've done their job.

[Lavieh]

Valid point.

Sorry the word "Insane" was over-exaggerated. Once ToAU came out SMN became relatively weaker, I can agree to that and anything after that I stopped caring. Before ToAU SMN was still really good or at worst "decent".

[Dwill]

Sorry the word "Insane" was over-exaggerated. Once ToAU came out SMN became relatively weaker, I can agree to that and anything after that I stopped caring. Before ToAU SMN was still really good or at worst "decent".

They were somewhat decent. Square Enix's track record with pet class isn't the best.

[Akiza]

Summoner was useless in Final Fantasy XI and its useless in this game. Ninja made the Summoner obsolete I've heard quite a few Summoners switching to Ninja because they have better game play and damage. A few Summoners switched to healers because they are easier to play and some went back to Black Mage. When Machinist and Astrologian comes out the last few playing Summoner will switch to those jobs.