Splitting SMN in Two

[Tulzscha]

Preface: I don't think SMN needs to be changed, I just like thinking about these things.

SMN currently has an identity crisis. On one hand it has permanent summons as pets. On another it has giant awesome summons for a short time on cds. On a third hand (yes SMN has three hands it's a mess) it has dots.

Now I love me some dots but they're not summons (though summons are indeed dots). I love dots so much I'd like to see a new job based entirely around them, so that's what I propose: Take the dot package from SMN, make it into a new job, and fill the void with moar summons while also making the summons more analogous.

Summoner

• Bio, Miasma, Fester, Bane, Painflare, Tri-Disaster, Energy Drain and Siphon - all gone.
• Replace with new abilities that have something to do with summons.
• Less mobile but has new summons to help get around (Atomos portal?).
• Permanent egis are lame, demis are better. Therefore all summons shall be demis to some degree, but will still call the small ones egis because it's easier.
• Demis still need to be way better than egis.
• Make trance more awesome.
• Moar primals.

Egis:

• 1 min cd, 30s duration.
• Have about 6 total to choose from - 2 single target dps (melee/ranged), 2 aoe dps (same), 1 "tank", 1 "heal".
• Add an Assault ability, give extra utility to some of the egis. Since they must be rotated we'll have more freedom to use one for a shield or speed boost or what have you.
• Active egis apply a small alteration to our core abilities. (Slight change in animation/color, bonus damage of a certain type, etc.)

Trance:

• Consumes active egi to use.
• Rather than reducing cast time by 2.5s, reduce it and our gcd by 1.5s.
• Casting spells raises a new trance meter.
• Trance meter can be spent on Deathflares and/or a big demi summon depending on how many casts you get in and what you need at the time.
• If you don't use trance on a demi summon the cd of trance is reduced (in such a way that overall dps is better if you do summon a demi).
• Trance ends either when you summon a demi or after 15s. OR duration is dependent on the sacrificed egi's duration.
• Should be able to summon a demi easily within 10s or Deathflare in 5s, if you're really good and plan ahead by saving ogcds you could maybe get a second Deathflare.

Demis:

• When your trance meter is full you'll have a choice of at least 3 demis to summon which could replace your egis to save bloat.
• Each demi has a cd so you have to rotate between at least two of them.
• All demis have a big effect upon summon.
• Active demis change your core abilities and your rotation, like Phoenix does now but more and they're all a bit different.
• Might be cool if the demis replaced the character entirely.

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New DoT Job

For starters we yank the SMN's abilities and expand Aetherflow into something bigger and better. Also moar dots. I would like to see a UI improvement that shows dots and their durations on enemies as well.

• 2 gcd dots: 1 with a cast time, 1 without.
• 2 ogcd dots, one with a short cd.
• Tri-Disaster applies 3 dots - all above except the ogcd with a cd. (Because it's called Tri-Disaster.)
• Bane functions the same, spreads all 4 dots.
• Bring Shadow Flare back.
• Most "mobile" caster thanks to dots always ticking but is slow and has phases where it really needs to stay still.

• Aetherflow caps at 5 and can be obtained from dot ticks as well as Energy Siphon.
• 1 Aetherflow can still be spent on Fester or Painflare but Painflare scales with dots.
• 3 Aetherflow can be spent on a new extremely potent dot (not spread by Bane or applied by Tri-Disaster).
• Channeled filler spells and a powerful cd or two.
• Cd to let you apply two copies of your dots to a target (because single target with dot classes can get very boring).
• Could also have a way to gain buffs for snapshotting but that might get too messy.
• As for the other spells, they could simply be short cds (in the 6-12s range) to be used whenever available that potentially reset Energy Siphon.

That's a good enough base. It definitely takes a bit from MoP's Shadow Priest because that was super fun. None of the casters in FFXIV have an unpredictable Dancer-like rotation so this job could fill that void. Dots can get pretty dull to maintain on their own so a bit of chaos would suit them well, and it would be fun to manage dots in addition to figuring out which spells to cast at any given time.