Quote Originally Posted by Cebo View Post
I think the problem is exacerbated because of how far ahead melee are to ranged. Because of this, there's only room for one caster job, so SMN and BLM are competing for that spot. The single target DPS difference may only be 25-40, but when BLM also bring much superior AOE, burst, resource management, and utility, it pretty much leaves SMN neglected.

Another idea for the expansion is to make SMN a semi-support job like the Bard, giving them pets that provide utility like party MP/TP regen, DPS buffs, etc. In this way, their lower damage to BLM can be justified, and Bards would no longer be a requirement in every raid comp.
Agree with all except the blm superior utility xD

The already noticable melee difference does make things worse for SMN (and bard for that matter I guess, but bard does have a much needed raid spot).