I have no issue with SMN being DoT DPS. I never played WoW, so even if SMN is a "Warlock clone", it still feels like a fresh and unique take on the SMN class for me.

As for FFXI's SMN... Certainly, while I played and enjoyed the SMN job is FFXI, I don't have a great deal of nostalgia for it. Because of how they were implemented in that game, SMN was little more than a half-assed WHM. Summons were too costly to keep out for any length of time, and they could only use abilities once per minute. Essentially, a level 75 SMN's role was that of a level 37 WHM with a crapton of MP. They only ever felt like a "classic" SMN at most once every two HOURS, when they could use Astral Flow - and even that was discouraged in general play due to the fact that it drained all of the SMN's MP. The situation did improve for SMNs eventually, but it took a long, long time.

So, I'm fine with FFXIV's take on SMN. I do have to say, though, I like the idea of SMN casting all or most of their spells by giving commands to the pet. The SMN doesn't cast Bio, Miasma, etc - the pet does, by command. It would give more of a feel that the SMN is commanding her thrall to fight for her, rather than doing most of the fighting herself with a pet providing support. For that to work, though, the pet would need to be a whole lot sturdier, maybe even indestructable, since a SMN would be pretty much helpless without it, rather than just inconvenienced as they are now.