I think with Summoners they had an opportunity to make it something really cool, considering how much primals play into the story and Summoners having some of the coolest attacks in many of the older Final Fantasy games. What they ended up doing makes the class feel like a clone of pet classes from older mmorpgs, rather than being based on Final Fantasy summoners.

When I first got this game, I made a Archanist. Didn't even get to lvl 20 in my first month and didn't renew my subscription. Later when my brother and some friends got Final Fantasy, I created a new Character on the same server as them. This one I made an Archer/Bard, got to lvl 50 within a month and the credits for beating Ultima Weapon in less than a month. If as a summoner you can't ever summon any of the big primals, its like the jobs capped at being a apprentice without it being possible to become a master summoner.