Summoner feels really, really dumbed down now

[Aztectornado]

And yeah, I know the point was to make it easier so you don't have that huge 6 minute long rotation with double-weaving in it, but this was about eight steps too far and makes what little I played of the class feel even more distant, and I don't think I want to play it anymore. In addition to making all the spell effects blinding and long enough to block tells from whatever boss is buried in them, the complete loss of any DoTs makes any downtime at all feel incredibly punishing, and lobotomizes the rotation entirely down to an almost fully GCD playstyle that somehow looks like it should be dopamine city, but feels hollow as hell.

If I wanted to play something with only GCDs, I'd go play Black Mage since at least it's good at something and doesn't make the party go blind. I just feel like I need to be doing-... Something between all this. Red Mage has Empowerment and Acceleration to weave in, Black Mage has Sharpcast and Ley Lines to think about-...

But summoner only gets their oGCD stuff in certain phases, and most of them don't really have any finesse or strategy to their use. Most are just an extra hit and don't really feel like they require any setup, much less add anything more than a second animation. Phoenix's useless single-target regen especially. It feels like a dead button that will never be up and active during a useful point unless you specifically plan around it, which then of course probably leads to a loss of DPS.

Also can we talk about Carbuncle? Did you HAVE to remove his auto attack and make him stand around staring at us? I get removing a lot of the stuff that his pea brain AI could lag on, but even Scholar doesn't have a pet that's this much dead weight... Hell, I'll go as far to say Mechanist and Dark Knight's 'pets' are better than Carbuncle now because at least they LOOK like they're doing something. Carbuncle's been reduced to just a prop. An ornament.

Makes me really jealous of Alphinaud's two Carbuncles now. At least they did something even if it made no sense.

[rewd]

And yeah, I know the point was to make it easier so you don't have that huge 6 minute long rotation with double-weaving in it

These silly hyperboles are part of the reason why the job was dumbed down so much, as they contributed to the community perception that was hurting the job a lot. I agree with your overall message, but let's keep hyperboles to poetry.

[Kalaam]

This reminds of how the complaints about DRK's Dark Art spam lead to its complete removal instead of just toning it down.

[Atamis]

It is, but its also 110% better than it once was. We just need a few balance patches to even things out.

[zcrash970]

It is, but its also 110% better than it once was. We just need a few balance patches to even things out.

Strongly disagree but you do you. I think it is one of worse versions of smn in the game so far. Right next to 2.0 damn in terms of gameplay. Maybe worse because 2.0 smn had stuff to manage and keep track of

[ThorneDynasty]

Not gonna lie, I went over the ability list like 5 times furiously trying to find what was missing from my hotbars.

[zcrash970]

Not gonna lie, I went over the ability list like 5 times furiously trying to find what was missing from my hotbars.

If most of the abilities weren't a minute long CD, maybe it would feel better, but at the current moment, the job doesn't feel rewarding and devoid of dopamine hits. Maybe if you started with egis then work to bahamut, would feel good

Started off with bahamut pretty much instantly and then having your dps really tank, feels awful

[Sunako]

Strongly disagree but you do you. I think it is one of worse versions of smn in the game so far. Right next to 2.0 damn in terms of gameplay. Maybe worse because 2.0 smn had stuff to manage and keep track of

I personally liked 2.0 SMN, it was pretty rewarding to play.

The best smn is IMO

4.0 > 3.0 > 2.0 > 5.0 > 6.0

[zcrash970]

I personally liked 2.0 SMN, it was pretty rewarding to play.

The best smn is IMO

4.0 > 3.0 > 2.0 > 5.0 > 6.0

Oh don't me wrong I loved 2.0 smn. I think 3.0 was a lot better.

Two class fantasies I love are dots and summoning. Why I liked 4.x smn, it was a good mixed of the two.

HW>StB>ShB>ARR>>>>>>EW

[Atamis]

To each their own. chicken nuggets auto attacks and dots were not summoner to me. I'm sure people like that class archtype but it shouldn't of been labeled summoner, its a bit of false advertising.
I like the current summoner but do agree it needs work to make it a bit more interesting. Its usable now and doesn't wiff half its abilities and actually summons.