Quote Originally Posted by Alberel View Post
I'm also not sure why you're even looking at the total damage done stat. It is a meaningless stat on its own as it is the speed that damage is delivered that determines how effective it is in PvP. Summoners might deal 200-300k+ damage via dots over the course of a fight but it's dealt so slowly that healers can easily just heal through it.
That's not really true. While burst damage is usually the most important, being able to bane buffed DoTs on entire parties put a lot of pressure on the healers. Instead of concentrating on healing themselves or a priority target, they have to aoe heal instead, leaving a single target open for burst. Damage doesn't have to result in a kill to be useful, it can also be used as a tool to apply pressure.

Honestly the AMOUNT of damage that SMN deals isn't really the problem though, it's how easy and quick it is to do while still being safe. I'd reckon that MCH and DRG can output higher burst, and probably BLM too. But they can't do it without putting themselves at risk due to cast times or having to be in melee range, so it's a tradeoff. SMN gets great burst while at safe distance, and it's all instant cast and can be prepped before an engagement. So it's not really fair.