Dear SE Dev Team

[Nalien]

I think its extremely unlikely you will see a full overhaul of the class from the ground up, partially because it would be a massive amount of work that they would probably spend on developing Jobs for the next expac and also because there would be people who liked SMN as it was and be unhappy with a drastic change. The Job itself isn't broken. It just doesn't thematically match what some people want.

That's kinda why I mentioned the potential for Red Mage to take up the DoT-Mage mantle. It would still be a lot of work, but I imagine it would be less work than starting completely from scratch. Red Mage could effectively be what Summoner is, minus the pets and with its own little flare (swordplay I imagine). Summoner could effectively be a "new" Job built around the pets (or not, I'm not really a fan of the Egis).

I think that's perhaps why Summoner has never sat right with me... It's always felt half-baked, it's like it is trying to be two different things... I'd rather have a solid pet Job and a solid DoT-Mage, than a half assed mix of the two...

I feel like Summoner's ties with Arcanist is fine.

Lore-wise? Sure, but mechanically I don't think Arcanist is particularly Summoner-y... It has pets and that's it... Pets weren't even a Summoner staple until Final Fantasy X and XI made Summoner that way, but both did so with far more depth than XIV offers...

Arcanist seems like it was rushed for launch and... Well, it is trying to be two things at once; Scholar and Summoner. For Summoner, I think that is detrimental, Scholar I think transitioned from it nicely though... The whole Virus/DoTs thing is thematically sound with Scholar; A large portion of the Scholars quests deal with combating a disease, Scholar is a healer of such ailments, and to me it then makes sense that their offensive capabilities would utilize that. Scholar even made better use of the pets IMO, the fairy actions aren't phenomenal, but they offer more depth than the Egi ones...

To me, it seems like 2 Jobs 1 Cu... Class was the developers attempt at trying something different, and given past comments on the system, I don't think it was considered a success... To me, Arcanist to Scholar works, though Arcanist would need to be changed to a healer (presumably with Carbuncle getting Eos/Selenes skill list, rather than Garuda/Titans, which again works for me, since I remember Carbuncle being more of a support/healer (Healing Ruby) than DPS...). Meanwhile, just off the fact that Extra Jobs require 2.x completion, Summoner works for them, since you'd have beaten all the Primals (the main six, anyway) to unlock it. Taking the Dreadwyrm Stance concept, and applying it to the main six Primals would make for a solid Job IMO, meanwhile the left over "DoT > Burst" mechanic presented with Fester could easily be adapted to Red Mage; Ruin and Aetherflow could be changed to a melee TP combo to build up stacks. Bio/etc. could be swapped for Dia. Fester could be functionally the same (just using the stacks from the melee combo), but be a melee attack instead. A single target attack with Banish. Perhaps some enhancement spells like En-Fire/etc. and Spikes... Heck, it even makes sense for Red Mage, a Job that traditionally had a sword, black magic, and white magic, to have a heal like Physick... The core of Red Mage could be the core of what 2.0 Summoner was; Keeping DoTs up with the occasional burst. Meanwhile, the "new" Summoner could fully embrace the summoning aspect.

[dinnertime]

Snip.

Yeah, the concept of a "trance mode" for the six primals does sound better. Heck, even give them astral and umbral spells like THM 1.0 (though using elemental magic fits better for SMN, and give THM their astral/umbral magic back).
But I don't see an overhaul anytime soon.

[BunnyHop]

Yeah, the concept of a "trance mode" for the six primals does sound better. Heck, even give them astral and umbral spells like THM 1.0 (though using elemental magic fits better for SMN, and give THM their astral/umbral magic back).
But I don't see an overhaul anytime soon.

Uhm NO!! I'm happy with the class/job the way it is. It is my main class/job and I love it.

Not having to micro-manage my pet is awesome. Not having to switch from pets in between fights is awesome too. I can use my Garuda the entire fight and that is what I love about being a Summoner. My pet stays with me at all times, at least it gives me the feeling that I have a (true) PET besides me.

I don't like the idea of switching pets, (or pets disappearing within a few seconds) during a fight.
That doesn't feel like pets, more like spells that resembles a pet, they don't have any "personality/character".
That is not a true pet. At least our current pets feel more like a pet than your/others suggestion.

Leave the Summoner the way it is, we don't need an overhaul.

Only thing we need is the ability to choose from more pets that have the same damage output so people can truly choose which pet they like and would love to use. Or being able to glamour them is fine as well. Just give us lots of glamour to choose from!

[dinnertime]

Snip.

I'm fine with either way. I'm not bothered with how Summoner is now...except for the lack of summons.
That's all in someone's perspective of what FFXIV's Summoner should've been, but I see Summoner as simply someone who can summon a powerful being, or at least a taste of it. Like how summons in previous games only appear for a short period of time and how in this game, they're only a primal's essence.

[Kemas]

If they would just change the ugly egis to the super cute mini primals they showed as minions (and redesign the minions as egis or smaller variations) everyone would be so so happy. The egis all look way to similar which is a problem considering they're quite ugly and abrasive looking. The new primal minions are so darn cute and accurate it'd be a shame to only use them as minions. :/

See: https://m.reddit.com/r/ffxiv

[RiceisNice]

One of those other scrapped ideas. They also said MCH would use multiple attachments, but instead got rid of that and made them play closer to BRD in play style. There's so many things in previews that they couldn't meet, it's kind of disappointing

[dinnertime]

Snip.

I feel like Summoner's ties with Arcanist is fine. Like most Job's ties with their Class, FFXIV's version of Summoner has the same concept of an Arcanist, in which the mainpulate Aetheric energies to form a familiar. Summoners can go to higher lengths and transform a primal's essence into a summon.
As to why they use debilitating spells is beyond me, it's better than nothing. Summoners from past FF games aren't really that different from a Black Mage (with their attacks) aside from having the ability to summon, in which those summons does a flashy special attack and then vanish.

Although, I'd like to have more Egis, or Egi-glamour but for them to be unique from each other, with different skills, and do much more than the 4 abilities they have right now (and maybe give better models. The Egis just look so tiny, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Though, the primal minions look far more better). As for now, think of our inability to summon more Egis as something like in FF games, where you start with a couple and get to summon them all eventually in the journey.

[BunnyHop]

I would be very happy to have these as part of SMN glamour:

Ifrit



Garuda



Titan



I want my Garuda to look like the Garuda above.

And more variety is always welcome in my book.

Also, I am very happy about my class (SMN) the way it is, I love the DoT's and the fact that not having to micromanage my summon is awesome.
I just want more summons to choose from, or at least be able to glamour them.

If they would just change the ugly egis to the super cute mini primals they showed as minions (and redesign the minions as egis or smaller variations) everyone would be so so happy. The egis all look way to similar which is a problem considering they're quite ugly and abrasive looking. The new primal minions are so darn cute and accurate it'd be a shame to only use them as minions. :/

See: https://m.reddit.com/r/ffxiv

This^^

[Ghastly]

I would be very happy to have these as part of SMN glamour:

Ifrit



Garuda



Titan



I want my Garuda to look like the Garuda above.

And more variety is always welcome in my book.

Also, I am very happy about my class (SMN) the way it is, I love the DoT's and the fact that not having to micromanage my summon is awesome.
I just want more summons to choose from, or at least be able to glamour them.




This^^

I want this! A Titan that walks up to a mob and hits them just like titan does. Aren't the animations there already? Copy the primals animations onto those primal minions. Drop the prerequisite that they have to be flying egis please. Walking around with titan is better than a flying nugget.

[BunnyHop]

I want this! A Titan that walks up to a mob and hits them just like titan does. Aren't the animations there already? Copy the primals animations onto those primal minions. Drop the prerequisite that they have to be flying egis please. Walking around with titan is better than a flying nugget.

I wouldn't mind Ifrit and or Titan walking either. But Garuda has to have wings :P