Is this what balance looks like?

[Hestzhyen]

MCH and SMN might be fine damage-wise but they're a total chore to play. I have both at 70 and while I appreciate that not all classes are going to be straightforward, MCH and SMN are both difficult to intuitively maximize DPS on AND excessively punishing if you mess up. In my opinion you should only be one or the other since the game's difficult content is geared towards perfect or near-perfect mastery of jobs while players deal with mechanics. SE has tweaked them a little since SB hit but player perception won't change until something big is done. What the top players are getting from the class is way, way different than what the average player is able to eke out. And normally that's not a bad thing to have a job that's more challenging than others... but you should make them something other than a chore to play properly. I wanna get Bahamut out right away and start blasting everything to cinders, not wait a bit until the right window opens up because max DPS mechanics > job theme/feel. MCH was a chore to level because we get Gauss Barrel at 50 but can't manage the heat it generates until 62 (wtf were you thinking SE?), and now I'm not having much fun monitoring my heat at the same time I carefully exploit open windows. Maybe it's not my style of play but I liked MCH before in 3.x and now it's just... tedious.

I think overall the jobs are where they should be for the top players. And since those are the players who will break the game if jobs are out of whack in any way, SE succeeded in balancing power with utility. Unfortunately they can't fix player perception or the major PitA some jobs became to play until they can free up the resources to give them in-depth changes. Hopefully that's sooner than later but... who knows.

[dinnertime]

Even so, the forums is the likely place where the dev team gathers feedback from players, even if it's just a small percentage of the entire playerbase, so what gets posted here has a chance to get recognized. The community rep already gave feedback in one of the SMN threads.
This "vocal minority" has shaped the game countless times already actually.

Also from the feedback we got, they're aware that players are concerned and unhappy about SMN.

[DaulBan]

SMN might get some changes due to player usage which might make it easier to play, but for the raid scene trickle-down economics is the name of the game. If it's popular at the top people try to emulate it at the midcore level even if it's not going to make an appreciable difference. There are exceptions to that, but I'd wager a guess that if SMN were better and had better representation at the top we'd see a bit more of it in the lower levels of gameplay. It's certainly a bit tricky but it's definitely not so bad someone can't read a guide and do OK.

To be fair this might help primarily the fflogs group and not the 'I think #buttons is inversely proportional to my enjoyment' group, but those two different sets of people might have different priorities in mind.

Regardless, give SMN's Miasma 3 the effect of a magic-type Disembowel and watch the memes fly. Give me the Mage Meme Team of my Dreams. Then we have SMN representation for the sake of ungodly dps.

[Kacho_Nacho]

Even so, the forums is the likely place where the dev team gathers feedback from players, even if it's just a small percentage of the entire playerbase, so what gets posted here has a chance to get recognized. The community rep already gave feedback in one of the SMN threads.
This "vocal minority" has shaped the game countless times already actually.

Also from the feedback we got, they're aware that players are concerned and unhappy about SMN.

Def-fin-nit-ly. (Sorry, no LOL emoticon)

Really hoping something good happens for our summoner and machinist friends!

[Nowakii]

*cries in ast* my Deeps :C

[Kacho_Nacho]

*cries in ast* my Deeps :C

Awwww. /comfort

I know. Leveling as a white mage is bad enough but leveling as an astrologian must be hell. Unless, of course, you are able to pick up your quests as an astrologian, switch to a different job to do the quest, then change back to astrologian when you turn the quest in. But many astrologians don't have that luxury, especially new players.

In duties and raids, it doesn't your low dps doesn't matter matter much. Astrologians are the superstars of healing. Your damage is adjusted down in balance with all the other things you bring.

/pet Be proud in what you can do. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, my friend.