So about Summoner...

[Wilbow]

That's an excellent question, the answer to which is "it shouldn't". When it boils right down to it, RDM and SAM both require a lowered skill floor and a raised skill ceiling, a necessity to them being able to perform at the potential they need to stay competitive with other jobs.

Sorry for being blunt, but that's a horrible perspective. Jobs should be balanced, period. Let's go through the reasons why:


1) People generally pick jobs for playstyle and aesthetics. Speedrun groups pick for utility, mobility, and total DPS. Difficulty isn't generally close to the biggest factor as to what job is picked. Ultimately, the IDEAL goal of balance should be to make it so that every job is equally desired in groups. Having a job where you cannot perform at the same level as everybody else by design, even if you were godlike, is LITERALLY the opposite of that. Many people wouldn't even bother investing in a job that won't be able to perform at the top level or feel "punished" for doing so, and people who love the job from previous FFs and/or love the gameplay will rightfully feel bitter for being arbitrarily chosen to suck. There are only losers with this philosophy.


2) Difficulty is hard to measure accurately. Unless a straight 1-to-1 comparison, which is nearly impossible because jobs have different combinations of mechanics by design, it's nearly impossible to quantify or even estimate unless you do something like compare DPS versus percentile using FFLogs. And the thing is that even those estimates can be skewed by certain design choices. Low percentile WARs have higher DPS than low percentile DRKs, IIRC; this is largely because WAR is centered around small periods of burst and thus isn't punished nearly as hard by not optimizing uptime. Does this mean that WAR is easier than DRK? No, not necessarily. Maybe one has a higher skill floor and a lower skill ceiling. Which job deserves higher DPS? If one deserves higher DPS accordingly, how MUCH more DPS does it deserve? Since we can't quantify difficulty, it's not like we can say "This job is X easier, so it should do Y less DPS."


3) Difficulty is contextual. Is melee or caster easier? Well, that depends on the mechanics of the fight, doesn't it? Are we talking about progression or farm? As a designer, when you sit around and make a job, you don't change potencies, utilities, or mobilities on a fight-by-fight basis. People generally don't switch around jobs between fights in a static, in part due to comfort and in part due to focusing on gearing one job at a time.

Also, I want to focus more on this "being good for progression only is okay" line, because that's bullcrap. Is WAR and SCH only good in progression or farm? What's that, you say? They're good at both? But that can't be! We CLEARLY want some jobs to suck half the time, while the rest suck the other half of the time. Isn't that F-U-N?!

Everybody loves being "viable" (i.e. a liability, but able to be carried in the right comp), don't you know? SAM/BLM/RDM are "viable" and therefore don't have a right to complain. We should make sure our WAR and SCH overlords are working 24/7 to keep them in line and tell them how great they have it. Ungrateful jerks. I mean, both WAR and SCH couldn't shut up in early SB when they were "viable", but it's okay when they do it because they're clearly special. /s


4) Difficulty is subjective. Is DRG or MNK easier? I don't know, do you suck more at dealing with timers or positionals? How well can you tank a floor? I mean, do I get to have higher potencies at RDM than everybody else because I'm miraculously shit at it but surprisingly click well with SMN? No, I didn't think so.

Seriously, SMN is right about where it needs to be; maybe a LITTLE high, but it's hard to say because SE tends to enforce/encourage bringing a caster LB and SMN is simply the best caster right now, so it's often coming regardless. SAM/BLK/RDM need slight buffs to be desired. Just raise SAM/BLK DPS by about 4-6% (most "utilities" people actually care about have a DPS value anyways), buff RDM DPS slightly (and fix embolden to not be so...weird), and the problem is solved. No, it's not "complicated". That's usually just a weasel word people like to use to avoid having to defend an opinion. No, they don't even necessarily need more utility or mobility, although that's another avenue to fix things (albeit more work and riskier, two things SE doesn't like). Their total DPS contribution is too low compared to everybody else, and everybody knows it. JUST. FIX. IT.