The problem with Summoners

[SoloWingMetatron]

I've been saying this since ARR was released lol. I don't think the devs really care enough to change it though.

Yeah it's almost as if due to the Summoner's iconic image of being an OP job of wonder they are purposefully holding themselves back from doing more with the job in fear of making it outshine the others. Which I think is a legitimate concern to have for an MMO. But at least in FF11 they addressed that by making it one of the hardest jobs to unlock (if not the hardest). However the job in ARR as it stands is essentially just a "trophy job" that is just there to look pretty and have no real substance. There also seems to be a large quantity of players asking for some kind of change to the job, so I think it is something the devs will have to address in some fashion at some point.

[SoloWingMetatron]

Another thought I had that would mean totally changing how Summoner works would be if it was changed into a Tank role, and instead of summoning forth a separate Egi the Summoner would actually call forth the Primal Aether into their body and become a vessel for it. A lot like Iceheart and Shiva. The Summoner would then take on the appearance of the Primal Aether they called into their body. So if they summoned Ifrit they would gain his horns, claws and tail. Or if they called forth Garuda into their body they would gain her wings and hooves. As well as tanking abilities based on that Primal's element.

[Sequora]

I would hate if SMN became a tank lol. I'm fine with the current overall playstyle of SMN. I have no problem with being a DoT caster. I do however have a problem with the bland visuals and lack of pet focus. I think that the current egi models need a redesign. They look extremely rushed. They don't have to be shrunken down primals, but maybe something slightly larger and with a closer resemblance to their primal counterparts. I would like elemental dots because as you said, most of the arcanist repetoire of spells feels extremely out of place on a spellcaster that uses pets that are made of elemental power. They could have the same effects as the current DoTs. As for the heavensward I hope that any new abilities that we get are pet focused. More abilities like enkindle where you give the pet a command. I also think it would be cool if there was a reason to swap to a different pet in the middle of a fight.

[Akiza]

Hopefully we will know what they'll do with the Summoner next live letter.

[SoloWingMetatron]

Haha yeah that tank idea was just a random thought I had about how the job could be taken in a totally unique direction that has never been seen in FF before. I don't have a problem with being a DoT caster either, but like you I just want there to be a larger focus on the Egi. I agree they need a redesign also or at least some form of evolution/growth system added coz they do need to be a little bigger. I think Ifrit has a good design overall though and represents the Primal in a decent way. But Garuda looks nothing like her Primal counterpart, it looks more like a Phoenix Egi if anything. Titan at least bears some resemblance, but there is still something off about his design too. I think it's those floating rocks that spin around him, for some reason they have a sheen to them when the rest of his body doesn't. It just looks a little odd.

[Craiger]

You need to remember that creating a new job takes them 1 year, and even though redesigning SMN wouldn't take that long, it would still take a very long time.

It could also piss off the players that actually like SMN right now, and maybe just want some additions in the expansion.

I do agree that their spells doesn't make sense really... but I would still like the job if they added the right spells.

They could still change SMN at least towards the way they should be. First off all, they could change the egis, because at least that isn't 1 year worth of developing, and our carbuncles became egis, so why couldn't our egis "upgrade" further in the SMN quests to look more like in FFXI.

Second, they could add some ability/abilities that directly affects our summon a lot more than just spur and rouse. Can't really come up with ideas right now, but there are many options. Maybe you could reduce your own damage for a duration, while your summon's damage goes up drastically, enough to make it worth doing. It would put more focus on the summon too. It could maybe solve some burst damage problems too.

If they focus all the new abilities and traits on what summoner should really be, then they could make a big difference

[Akiza]

You need to remember that creating a new job takes them 1 year, and even though redesigning SMN wouldn't take that long, it would still take a very long time.

It could also piss off the players that actually like SMN right now, and maybe just want some additions in the expansion.

I do agree that their spells doesn't make sense really... but I would still like the job if they added the right spells.

They could still change SMN at least towards the way they should be. First off all, they could change the egis, because at least that isn't 1 year worth of developing, and our carbuncles became egis, so why couldn't our egis "upgrade" further in the SMN quests to look more like in FFXI.Second, they could add some ability/abilities that directly affects our summon a lot more than just spur and rouse. Can't really come up with ideas right now, but there are many options. Maybe you could reduce your own damage for a duration, while your summon's damage goes up drastically, enough to make it worth doing. It would put more focus on the summon too. It could maybe solve some burst damage problems too.

If they focus all the new abilities and traits on what summoner should really be, then they could make a big difference

Redesigning the Summoner would bring people back that were turned off by the DoT style and choose the Black Mage by default or switched to Ninja because they found their play style fun. Summoner feels incomplete it's missing that one quality that makes it a Summoner. Summoner should work like this based on the Egi summoner Summoner's should have access to those spells and Egis should specialize in Bursts.

[Craiger]

Redesigning the Summoner would bring people back that were turned off by the DoT style and choose the Black Mage by default or switched to Ninja because they found their play style fun. Summoner feels incomplete it's missing that one quality that makes it a Summoner. Summoner should work like this based on the Egi summoner Summoner's should have access to those spells and Egis should specialize in Bursts.

I know what you mean, but would take a very long time for them to do it... and if it was going to come in the expansion, they wouldn't have had the time to do 3 new jobs... If SE didn't release 3 new jobs in the expansion (dps, healer and tank), people would complain about that, so in the end they made the right decision.

Maybe they could do it in the future, but it's a huge task you know... and who knows, maybe they will become more like the summoners we want, in 3.0.

[Sequora]

The changes I want are mostly visual. Akiza wants an entirely different job. That will never happen. Not unless they decide to split up SCH and SMN. Even if that were the case I think that DoTs will always be a major part of SMN in FFXIV. They could certainly overhaul the job but they aren't going to completely take away the identity of the job they created. I feel that the visuals for SMN look very rushed. The redeveloped the entire game in 2 years. They wanted to get a new job out for the re release which is why I think the visuals work this way. I want elemental DoTs. I don't mind being a DoT caster, but I do think going forward the job needs a much heavier focus on our pets. I would like more abilities that involve our pet and I want a reason to swap between different pets in combat.

[rawker]

As much as I wanted to jump on the idea that this class needs to be reworked in 3.0, I have come to think that the game is still young and that there will be more expansions in the near future - one of this expansion is how to better channel the power of the Primals so that the Egis summoned will be more or less a step closer to the Primals themselves. I guess the progression is that more Egis of this level will come at level 60 and Greater Egis will surface at let's say... level 75, as it is halfway to level 99. So I am not expecting much to happen come HW and just hope better things to come in future expansions.