So about Summoner...

[xxPheNoMeNa]

SMN seems oppressive because it's the best caster in FARM by the "communities" standards while still being a very solid choice for prog too.

And this is a community issue. People need to really understand how these classes compare to one another. The balance between BLM and SMN for example is very good imo. The problem however is that it's extremely difficult to play BLM optimally, so generally it "looks" like BLM isn't as good when in fact it's very close. Ultimate content is the only case where I would argue playing BLM would actually be true disadvantage. But a lot players would only say "BLM has no utility and SMN buffs my damage, BLM is bad". Then you have RDM and yes their damage is way off the face of the earth compared to the other 2 casters, but they also bring this special utility that is literally unmatched by anything else in the game.

And this goes back to my point about these "advantages" not mattering for 99% of the community. I've never heard speedrunning or world prog groups (including my own) complaining about the strength of Summoner and these are the only two instances where this would even matter. If you're not bleeding edge optimizing, there's nothing stopping you from playing RDM.