Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
(and PUP was actually pretty good DPS in the right hands; so few people could play it properly, though, that party leaders rarely gave them the chance to show it)
Thats funny i could say the same in regards to early summoners. No, the main reason summoners were healers is because there was always a healer shortage for party exp. It was so bad sometimes you found yourself using rdm and anything else that could toss side cures, which is what the na community ended up doing with summoner. Most only had carbuncle and were trying to get the class leveled anyway only healing setting a unwanted standard. Free mp cost would have been way unfair downtime wise against blm anyway. I never dissapointed parties as a dps when i was in a group even with mp cost. All it took was learning skill chain combos, having all your avatars, knowing how to magic burst if you were the burster, and using the wiki charts and graphs to find out blunt/piercing/slashing weaknesses of mobs and using the best pacts for it.
Free mp casts later on just made smn avatar favor more reliable. Dps was good even before it. I was using smn back when cap was 75 and sky was fresh. So i know what i know. Guess i agree to disagree.