Their decision to not give us new egis in lieu of other functionality was fine, in my opinion.

There is NO elemental wheel in this game. AKA, you can use wind against wind and it's fine. You could use earth against wind and it's fine. Ice isn't strong against wind, nor is it weak against fire. It is what it is. So, having multiple egis with the same role doesn't really make sense. How could we possibly have SIX different pets with six different sets of abilities, and somehow think that each pet will be viable at some point? For most fights, SMN will strictly use Garuda... unless the boss will be standing still a lot, then Ifrit is viable. But, Titan never gets used in fights and Ifrit is still pretty rare... so how would they spruce things up? By creating varied roles... tank/melee/ranged... and that's what we have. They already did confirm that we'll get 'aesthetic' choices for our pets... so there's that. Sure, it's not the same as having six buttons on your hot bar, but it is EFFECTIVELY the same.

I'm happy about the whole Dreadwyrm Trance thing... for a few reasons. First, AKH MORN. Second, the lore behind being able to gain affinity for the Dreadwyrm Trance. And, third, the fact that our rotation SHOULD get a little more interesting and complicated. Some people already complain that it is difficult to optimize summoner in every fight, but I see it as a challenge, and this as more of a challenge. Of course, as all jobs gain new abilities, this will be true for everyone... but there seems to be a real divide between, "Here's when you use aetherflow stacks" and "Here's when you use Dreadwyrm Trance." If you have a firm understanding of the fight, you'll be able to balance out when it would be best to use everything. Of course, this is all speculation... but pretty cool in my mind.

Finally... from a lore perspective (mixed with the functionality and lack of elemental strengths/weaknesses), the effect of 'aesthetic' changes in egis is essentially the same; we are channeling and gathering aether, and that aether is taking the form of an egi. That is, we are drawing from the same energy source that creates the primals, but our egis are NOT an 'avatar' of those primals. So, our energy is all coming from the same place, even if it does gain an elemental aspect... which is 'artificial' in this game... Keeping this in mind... what is the lore behind channeling the Dreadwyrm Trance!? I need an answer. I'm excited about this. I love the lore behind SMN in this game, even if others want it to be a clone of other FFs. (Most common is FFX and FFXI because, avatar out all the time... but people have also requested... "Let us summon it temporarily for a big move.") I like that SE is going in a new direction with this.