Quote Originally Posted by PyurBlue View Post
Summoner as it is now is a good class. A total overhaul would be a mistake in my opinion, the class only needs minor tweaking and trying to make it align with the idea of a summoner thematically at the expense of how the class plays isn't a good idea. I don't really understand the desire to make it "more" of a summoner anyway myself. The class is already heavily reliant on summoning, you just don't have to constantly summon while playing it. I'm fine with SE adding a class that has you micromanaging your pet, but Summoner should also stay the way it is now.
Arguably, is it even really a Summoner at that point? The only pet-related abilities are Rouse, Enkindle, Devotion, and Contagion if you have Garuda out (and even then Contagion is only pet-centric to give Garuda something to do, it could just as easily be a part of my own kit as the caster and there wouldn't be a difference). Summoner does indeed play quite smoothly right now, but outside of 4 skills in a 30+ skill kit, everything is coming from me as the caster while the pet just kind of autos or uses a single extra skill on command while I have GCDs rolling. Don't call me a Summoner if it's a one-and-done with occasional BahaMage shenanigans.

I genuinely believe Arcanist was always meant for Scholar. Everything in the kit outside of the Ruin line of spells falls so perfectly in line with what Scholars are about. I understand the game needs a DoT-based DPS job as an MMO staple, but I don't think SMN was the way to introduce that. DWT and Demi-Baha are steps toward better gameplay for SMN, and I think if we're going to talk about job tweaks, we should be talking about tweaks to the kit that either center on smoother egi control, or the elimination of egi and filler damage for a dedicated summon-centric series of burst trances that lead up to demi summons.

"Oh, but that's a lot of attention paid to one job!" Yep. It sure is. Because there is literally zero problem with making jobs diverse enough despite similar play styles, and sometimes that means some jobs are a little flashier than others. Non-issue, doesn't impact viability in gameplay.