Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 38
  1. #1
    Player
    Mahri's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Limsa-Lominsa
    Posts
    989
    Character
    Maral Malaguld
    World
    Faerie
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 100

    Sell me on Summoner.

    This is a bit of an indulgent thing to make a thread about, but figured I'd toss it out there.

    I want to play Summoner. I love Summoners in other FF games. So, tell me what makes it worthwhile and why it'd be a good DPS choice for Heavensward. Make a discussion of it or not, I'm pretty much just looking to be inspired.

    Backstory: I leveled ACN for Scholar. I'm probably making White Mage my main healer going forward, but don't want to leave this collecting dust. Summoner is just sitting here as an option. I've tinkered with it but don't get the sense of "feedback" that other DPS classes deliver...so far. It seems to be quite passive and lukewarm compared to the more direct role played by others, despite the numbers being mathematically "sufficient" for what it's supposed to do.

    So, what's the appeal? What's to make this something to aspire to play, and play well?
    (1)

  2. #2
    Player
    Xoriam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    222
    Character
    Nullifer Bones
    World
    Phoenix
    Main Class
    Dark Knight Lv 60
    (36)

  3. #3
    Player
    Bigcat9715's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    490
    Character
    Nebulon Gumball
    World
    Gilgamesh
    Main Class
    Arcanist Lv 90
    (23)

  4. #4
    Player
    SpookyGhost's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    3,403
    Character
    Kori Fleming
    World
    Cerberus
    Main Class
    Marauder Lv 80
    Try it and decide for yourself.
    (8)

  5. #5
    Player
    Higashikata's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Posts
    200
    Character
    V'priva Chxlyka
    World
    Balmung
    Main Class
    Archer Lv 85
    The fact that 90% of summoners ruin everything means that if you learn how to play it, you'll automatically be in the top 10% of summoners.

    If you don't like Damage over time, don't play summoner. If you can't keep track of all the cooldowns and DoT timers, don't play summoner.
    (2)

  6. #6
    Player
    Gamer3427's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Limsa Lominsa
    Posts
    882
    Character
    Rashi Shadowblade
    World
    Shiva
    Main Class
    Machinist Lv 60
    I feel the whole Arcanist family is great for people who want to constantly be watching things and actively reacting to situations, such as trying to time recasts of DoTs to maximize their up time, or deciding just when to use Virus or Eye for an Eye. Even if you don't get into the micro managing that some players do with their pets, the class can be a great deal of fun if you enjoy constantly keeping things in motion, rather than simply following the more mundane rotations of other classes. This is just my opinion on the matter though. Fair warning if you do play as it. Most people won't notice how much you're actually doing, because you're using damage over time rather than the giant one hit numbers other classes rely on. If handled right, you can deal just as much damage as them, while conserving your energy to keep it up for longer, yet most people will just notice the relatively small numbers from the individual ticks, and think you're not doing as much damage as you are....
    (3)
    Quote Originally Posted by TouchandFeel View Post
    Strangely enough, if you assume the OP is from a parallel universe, it all makes sense.
    ...
    That or they are just spouting gibberish.

  7. #7
    Player
    Mahri's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Limsa-Lominsa
    Posts
    989
    Character
    Maral Malaguld
    World
    Faerie
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 100
    Gamer3427 --
    That nicely quantifies the thing I like about healers as well, and gives me something to look for the appeal in. Awareness and control over the wider situation as opposed to focus. Thank you for summing it up so well.

    Xoriam --
    I like the cut of your jib.
    (2)

  8. #8
    Player
    Kiroh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Gridania
    Posts
    1,478
    Character
    Soube Miseux
    World
    Midgardsormr
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 90
    The best thing about playing summoner by far is switching to black mage.
    (9)

  9. #9
    Player
    Evangela's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    グリダニア
    Posts
    4,361
    Character
    Evangela Monterossa
    World
    Balmung
    Main Class
    Ninja Lv 90
    king of trash mob killers.

    that's about it.
    (0)

  10. #10
    Player
    Lemuria's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    1,769
    Character
    Lemuria Glitterhands
    World
    Ragnarok
    Main Class
    Conjurer Lv 100
    Summoner is a really hard sell. Seriously.

    It's not a job which pats you on the back for a job well done. Every major attack is a damage over time effect, so you're not going to see any huge damage spikes other than Fester. The problem with Fester is that it only works on a single target and eats up aetherflow stacks so it can only be used 3 times per minute.

    It's not a job which works well during the add phases of a boss. Because of its DoT nature, you need to cast all three on each target. You can use Bane to 'copy' your DoT's, but only to a maximum of 3 others and they have to be close together for that to work. This means adds take longer to kill than they would with other DPS jobs on the whole.

    It's not a job where your summons are big and impressive. They deal small amounts of damage, amounting to a total of 30% of your damage output. Every 5 minutes you can use their 'signature attack' by means of Enkindle. While this sounds cool, in reality it doesn't hit nearly as hard as Fester even if you pop every cooldown at once and doesn't even give you a flashy visual effect to enjoy.

    It's not a job where you have a huge variety of attacks. Aside from Miasma and Bio casts, the majority of the time will be spent spamming Ruin spells. These make up the extra damage while your DoT's tick down the enemy HP. Individually, these attacks don't hit very hard in fact they're significantly weaker than most basic attacks from other DPS classes. The upside is that Ruin II can be cast while moving, but that's scant comfort with it costing almost double MP for the privilege.

    It's certainly a unique job, but it's a tough one to recommend on its own merits.
    - Item level 121 Summoner
    (15)
    Last edited by Lemuria; 06-02-2015 at 02:52 PM.

Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread