What Changes Does New Summoner Need?

[Shougun]

I quite like the new version, those used to the stacks on stacks older version I can see maybe not being crazy happy, but I think this one has an easier to work with base so if we needed to find middle ground I think a full revert would be unnecessary (I'm not pleased at others suffering).

I do think the level 86 astral flow changes make the job more complete, so I wonder if a weaker variant sooner would help people. For those who feel the job needs more, I think that point in leveling is going to make them happier (not saying whatever issue they had is removed, just seems like a strong evolving point for the job).

I think my personal complaints, though fairly minor, is carby seems to exist to not to exist lol and maybe some change would present a more ideal narrative (constantly being un-summoned), and physick is still pretty much a wasted slot- but I think they could have a lot of fun with it (physick slot).

An easy way to make physick nice might be if you have a stack for fester / painflare it will consume one but greatly increase it's effectiveness (perhaps using carby as an animation point, so carby gets three skills). This would be, I imagine, relatively easy change (compared some other choices) and can make the slot not feel entirely wasted space but also not throw out balance. More complicated but potentially more fun is to have it morph at each primal step, give it some mechanic for balance, rekindle for example might exist in this new morphing support slot.

Absolutely a lot more work but would increase the amount of choices one could do, that I feel wouldn't kill our current structure, is adding a proc system akin to dancer / bard / red mage. Not extremely frequent proc to save people's fingers, but there might be a skill at later levels that can manually trigger it too (like red mage has). When the proc happens fester and painflare morph into primal related variants (based on your step).

So for example proc titan fester goes to gaol which will stun / interrupt and deal fester damage. Ifrit painflare would be eruption. Due to their extra unique aspect besides an extra thing to sometimes react to and play different keys (oGCD, maybe remove the ruin mechanic to prevent broken fingers lol), there would also be sometimes nice decision making moments like you could hit the pack for more damage via titan painflare (probably tumult or sands based), but gaol on the super annoying mini-boss trash monster would be far more helpful so you do that instead of most damage (gaol not stunning bosses of course, but perhaps make excellent lock down in singular trash monsters- will deal damage regardless of CC resistance). This system could also work nicely with changing physick (like bard and bloodletter / rain of death, you can only choose one proc), so then there is justification in making the support skills powerful (costs damage, akin to how Paladin operates around clemency). Though you can see how that is three new skills per primal step lol.

Anyway, I think the current is best in the morphing aspect and quite aggressive feeling with crazy strong primal vibes in the end. I would love for everyone to be enjoying the job, but also I don't think a revert is really necessary. I think it has a strong foundation, and maybe some tweaks can help others appreciate it more, but I think I'm also seeing a lot of new fans to the job. Certainly the DoT mage before is now open for a new job though (like I always felt 2.0 SMN was fun, just not a good SMN- I can imagine they could, if they find the right theme, make an excellent dot job).

@ryouma17 - it's adding flavor to each form so they are more than different colors in each step. I think it's a really cool touch, I'm quite happy with the differences they worked in without breaking balance overall for the job. Each primal isn't "copy pasted ruin damage plus with primal coat of paint". Especially at level 86, I really feel that is going to be a huge moment for a lot of players but it is far away for many still.. xD