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.