Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXXVII Discussion Thread

[Claviusnex]

I honestly believe they have no idea of what to do with pet class. I always loved Summoner and pet classes in general, but the way they're handling things makes me not want to use them. /sigh

I could live with SE needing to figure out what to do. I get the impression however that they really don't don't want to figure out what the job is and how to implement it. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if during meetings someone didn't say I wish we had never introduced the job.

I think the reason for this is that in a best-case scenario SMNs are actually in a good place. The problem is that they're probably the absolute hardest job to do well on now (barring MCHs who simply cannot compete no matter how well they play now) and are very easily screwed over by things they can't control (such as a fizzled Aetherflow spender or a death wiping out stacks). What SMN largely needs is QoL fixes rather than full on balance adjustments which might be why they didn't touch on things as much.

The only real 'balance' related adjustments I think SMNs need is easing up on the Bane nerf a little and giving us back Sustain. Everything else is just QoL stuff related to stopping Aetherflow stacks being wasted or lost on death.

I don't consider the Aetherflow problems quality of life issues. They affect the basic function of the Summoner and its ability to fulfill its role. Even though I show my dots up Fester still frequently won't hit and wastes an Aetherflow. I've had to try to delay the use of Fester to be sure the server knows the dots are up. In any event I lose two Aetherflow CDs as the next one will be over as soon as the bar is full. This then cascades into DWT and Bahamut. Prior to 4.0 I would only lose one cycle as once I went into DWT any remaining Aetherflows were still available.