I posted this in that Dev team thread, but I'll quote it here:

There are a lot of things wrong with SMN:
  • Weak AoE damage due to the loss of Blizzard II and (more importantly) the Bane nerf.
  • Contagion's change makes sense, but it's also horrible. Why is this a pet CD when we need to hold our entire burst phase back for it?
  • Poorly thought out mana changes results in constant, meaningless Ruin III spam. We can do it forever with Lucid Dreaming, but it doesn't feel impactful now due to the nerfs to its potency.
  • Dreadwyrm Trance and Aethertrail are overly restrictive when it comes to using Aetherflow, punishing you severely for accidentally hitting it, or if you screw up and die to a mechanic.
  • Ruin IV and the enkindle procs feel like a bandaid rather than anything meaningful.
  • Devotion is a poorly thought out ability that doesn't contribute enough for the effort it takes to use on an intended target.

Here are some potential changes that could fix these issues:
  • Make Aetherflow and Aethertrail seperate buffs that can exist at the same time, like in HW. All it needed before was the Aethertrail timer removed, and the class would've been perfect.
  • While we're at it, allow Aetherflow to be used during DWT again.
  • Make Tri-Disaster's Ruin Potency buff also apply to Tri-Bind. Make it spreadable to other targets via Bane.
  • Revert some of the Bane nerf. Not all of it. Some. Simply make the minimum 40% instead of 20% and it'll be fine.
  • Change the pet Ruin IV proc to instead proc off of our Ruin spells. Flat 25% chance outside of DWT, no crit involved. 100% during DWT. Make Ruin IV itself instant cast too, so we can actually weave oGCDs during DWT without clipping.
  • The enkindle proc could honestly be removed, or changed to only proc when you use Ruin IV, so you get some slight control over it.
  • The Fester/Painflare CD reduction changes are fine, but I'd just set them all to be the same as Energy Drain, 3s long.
  • Integrate Bahamut into DWT, so every third you instead get a 20% magic buff plus him, and using Aetherflow Actions during that period makes him use Akh Morn. Reduce his potencies and Akh Morn's damage to compensate.
  • Swap Contagion and Devotion around. Make Devotion an AoE 5% healing buff in the process. Garuda should provide less damage given her safety to begin with, so this is fine.
  • Consider swapping Radiant Shield to be a 5% damage reduction buff. Don't keep the spikes effect.
  • Nerf Ruin II to 80 potency so booksmacking at low mana isn't a thing anymore. It's our movement skill. Keep it that way.
  • Nerf pet damage to compensate for these buffs if needed. Not our personal dps. They can't dodge, we can.
  • I don't have a good solution to the Ruin III spam, tbh. SMN needs mana cost adjustments to solve that issue.
  • Also save Aetherflow/Dreadwyrm Aether stacks while dead.

Note: I don't care about the pets that much. They're not what SMN is actually about, and while that's a problem, it's one that can't be fixed in the short term. Hell, the DWT change I mentioned will take forever to implement, but it's actually doable, and I'm surprised it wasn't a thing in the first place.