I like summoner as is, but this tread got me thinking on how to move it away from it's arcanist or "necromancer" feel. I have a couple of ideas.
The first would be to flat out replace the base spells one at a time via job quests, either as part of an expansion or retroactively. For example, Bio could be morphed into an Ifrit flavoured spell when we learn Titan-egi, miasma would become a Titan themed spell when we get his egi, and a wind based spell could replace Bio II upon getting Garuda-egi.
Tri-disaster would therefore be a tri-elemental/primal attack instead. Miasma II could be changed into a Ramuh style EMP if there is a part of his territory that isn't infused with bahamut aether (I'm thinking just inside ala mhigo, maybe), because HW SMN lore (how far does Bahamut's aether reach across the world anyway?) :/.
The second would be learning different stances or aspects like the Astrogogian Sects. Our base spells would be infused with <insert primal> aether, possibly changing their name/appearance/effect/secondary effect into moves themed after the primal whose aether we are currently aspected to.
The new moves that replace the old wouldn't necessarily have to be DoTs either, they could be direct damage spells that interact with each other in a different way, or have CDs.
I don't pretend to know if it is doable currently from a programming perspective, but if WoW can make Immolate turn into Corruption or Doom based on you spec, or Arcane Shot become Sidewinder via a talent choice, then it should be doable.
Just to reiterate, I am fine with summoner as is, these are just a couple of random ideas I thought I'd share.![]()