Splitting SMN in Two

[Tulzscha]

Summoner doesn't have an "identity crisis"; a few people just don't like the identity.

All damage is "Damage over time" it just depends on how it is used. BLM has massive Burst damage while Summoner has death by 1000 cuts and Red Mage lives somewhere in between. Remove all the visuals of a job and you'll notice that the dummy is taking slow big hits from one, faster milder hits from another, and a steady stream of hits from the other.

The point is that SMN has two different ideas going on at the same time: summons and the Miasma/Bio/Fester/etc. package. And while yes spamming Ruin deals damage over time Ruin is not a damage over time spell, those are specifically spells like Bio that put a debuff on an enemy and deal damage... over time, without any additional input from the caster.

Its mechanical identity is sublime. Its thematic identity is... baaaaaad.

I think most of the 'SMN is actually not really a Summoner at all" complaints come from how bad the job is at conveying what is actually happening with your egi and egi assaults and how clunky those feel. I am hoping the overhaul is just that, but considering the Egi mechanically doesn't exist for most purposes besides weird cast delays and pre-setting the AoE for Devotion I suspect it will be more substantial.

Yes SMN is very fun to play (imo) which is the most important thing. Thematically the dots have nothing to do with the summons and egis look, feel, and are weak. When you think "Summoner" you think someone who summons things to deal with enemies for them and we don't really do that. The vast majority of our damage comes from Ruin, dots, and Fester. Egis exist more to enable Ruin IV than anything.

Before demi summons came along we were essentially Warlocks with a different name. And I'm cool with that, I like Warlocks, but they're not Summoners. Now that we have Bahamut and Phoenix we're starting to feel more like actual Summoners but much of our kit is cut off from them both mechanically and thematically.