7.x Summoner Idea

[Yasminou]

My take would be to have a lv.92 that indeed changes Summon X II into Summon Y, where Y is Leviathan, Ramuh and Shiva after Phenix. This would be the egi version with a Carbuncle version unlocked as egi-glamour only. Then, later (but maybe not lv.100), we would learn the Summon Y II spells with the true summon, as we do lv.90.

However, we need a different playstyle, otherwise this is just a glamour trait. For instance, Ramuh could have Shock Spikes as its Astral Flow which is an AoE buff around the caster: each time an enemy hits someone with Shock Spikes, they take damages. We would then need to find thematic Astral Flow for Leviathan and Shiva (maybe its conal AoE with large stalagmites, I forgot the name). Finally, I would like them to have a different number of Gemshine / Precious Brillance cast than the 2/4/4 we already have, something like 3/3/5 for instance.

[ty_taurus]

I'd argue this seems like the most natural upgrade of the new SMN and is a fairly realistic prediction, however it does have an annoying flaw. Having a 2 minute rotation is something SMN has had in the past and a big issue with it is how punishing it makes getting KOed. If your Leviathan, Ramuh, and Shiva phases are stronger than your Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda phases, then a reset on KO will feel really rough. Now, this doesn't mean it's entirely bad nor that it can't be done. Like I said, SMN had this before in SB, but it's definitely a negative that needs to be looked out for.

Here are some general thoughts I have about the long term future for SMN myself:

1. I'd like to see a fix to how pets work so that Carbuncle is no longer dismissed when summoning Demi-primals. The only reason he's still dismissed is because of old code, and while I really can't speak to the difficulty of making that a reality, I think it's very important if we want Carbuncle to be more than window dressing.

2. If point 1 can be done, expanding on Carbuncle's repertoire of tools, such as returning Searing Light to him. A couple other tools that could be associated with Carbuncle that I think would help keep SMN's rotation feeling fluid would be an action that grants you a random Gemstone when you otherwise have none, useful for delaying your next Bahamut/Phoenix in dungeons without just spamming vanilla Ruin/Tri-Disaster. You can only use this when you have no Gemstones to avoid exploiting the action to repeat your highest damaging phases. The other action deals very high damage based on your remaining gemstones and consumes them. This should not be as strong as the entire gemstone phase itself, but useful for when you're unable to use all your Gemstones before your next Bahamut/Phoenix, such as when a boss becomes untargetable for a segment of the fight. These may need to share a cooldown to avoid them being used together so that it doesn't feel like you're losing a part of your damage when using these actions to adjust your rotation.

3. Adjust SMN's single target roation to combo your AoE spell off your single target spell in any example like how Shadowbringers Phoenix worked. AoE buttons that exist for AoE only bother me because we don't have enough engaging AoE situations to warrant needing a separate AoE rotation, and SMN dedicates a lot of hotbar real estate to buttons that almost never get used outside of dungeon trash. If we make all the AoE spells combo, it adds an additional modicum of zest to SMN's gameplay and makes it so that half of SMN's action list isn't just AoE trash burning.

4. Potentially have Leviathan, Ramuh, and Shiva upgrade your current summons outright and just give the player to choose between which summons they want for the animations. In other words, your summon phases all get a DPS boost, and you have the option to choose between two summons for each phase visually. The suggested solution in TC's post is also an option, but like I said before, there is the concern of the added punishment on KO if your stronger summon phases are locked behind each odd minute of gameplay and can really throw off your rotation.

5. Add Alexander as a demi summon that can be summoned in place of Bahamut or Phoenix and exists on a longer cooldown. Or in other words, you save it for buff windows and summon Bahamut and Phoenix outside of buff windows.

6. Replace the Energy Drain > Fester/Painflare system into something that uses one-off attacks from Bismark, Ravana, Susano-o, and Lakshmi. Specifically, I have the mindset that consuming a gemstone now activates a specific summon. For example maybe Leviathan or Garuda gives you access to 1 use of Bismark's attack normally, and then maybe you have a Carbuncle action that gives you all 3 of Bismark, Ravana, and Susano-o the replaces Energy Drain. And then perhaps Lakshmi is just a separate cooldown with a buff, like a physical Magick Barrier.

[Raikai]

I'd argue this seems like the most natural upgrade of the new SMN and is a fairly realistic prediction, however it does have an annoying flaw. Having a 2 minute rotation is something SMN has had in the past and a big issue with it is how punishing it makes getting KOed. If your Leviathan, Ramuh, and Shiva phases are stronger than your Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda phases, then a reset on KO will feel really rough. Now, this doesn't mean it's entirely bad nor that it can't be done. Like I said, SMN had this before in SB, but it's definitely a negative that needs to be looked out for.

They could realistically equalize the Phoenix phase dps to the Bahamut phase, so it won't have a huge discrepancy in case of death... or simply just not resetting the gemstone UI.

As for the Carby... the situation is so bad that if it stays like this I'd rather just have it as an optional cosmetic spell by removing RA from it too. I would actually love - anything - for the pet, even a "dps-embrace" would do. Even if it represented like 5% of the total SMN dps... anything to see the carby actually doing something instead of twerking not facing the boss.

To me, the "perfect" egi glam system would be to fully complete the aetherical wheel with those new 3 gemstones, and then having a robust "Gemstone-glamour" system that can be even a menu option (like Performance, a fluff aspect of the job). There you would be able to swap the summons for others that would match the same element, like swapping Garuda for Bismark, or Ifrit for Belias, etc. This way, the elemental spells could remain as they are and basically we'd swap just an icon and animation for the summon.

Also, PLEASE, put Alphinaud's old carbuncle colors and the other egis (Ramuh, Belias and Sephirot) available into the /petglamour system... They are ALREADY THERE, so why not having them?

My last wish - that didn't happen - was SMN LB3 actually being a jumbo-sized summon. I thought that Alex would be the perfect candidate for this, but then, how your character would be using that before the raid, or if they didn't do the raid at all? Maybe it could be actually a new summon just for it that somehow could be explained during ARR.

[Midareyukki]

It has been a long time requested, but we still do not have Ramuh or Shiva summons. Heck, Blue Mage which is a limited, and not even a real job, got skills themed after them long before summoner. It is time that Summoner got these skills, so here is my idea.

When you go into phoenix mode, it should flip the summons for Ifrit/Garuda/Titan into new ones! Theme them after the opposite elements of the magia board.

Ice is the opposite of fire, and Ifrit pairs beautifully with Shiva. Having Ifrit turn into Shiva after firebird trance expires.

Lightning is the opposite of earth, so lets make Titan turn into Ramuh.

The opposite of Wind is Fire or Ice, so this part could get a bit confusing, and if you add another fire summon, that is THREE fire summons that summoner can do.. which I understand might be a bit annoying, but I will say this. Belias. Belias makes sense if we are going for an opposite theme. Belias also already has a model in the game, so it would work quite well. It is an esper! :3

This sounds like it should be the natural way the job should be ngl. Though this does appear to be purely cosmetic... I don't know if I'd add some extra stuff to this idea so that it could be more than just a reskin.

snip

Ty_Taurus has the right of it, and his ideas for these "reskins" makes them unique enough to warrant them. As for his ideas, he also has a point, as right now Carbuncle serves zero purpose other than to infuriate me whenever I load the job or am raised.
I don't know if they'd use Ravana\Susanoo\Lakshmi like that, but at this point at lv 90, having gone through all the relevant plot, we know enough to handle the aether of other primals.
Alternatively? The Twelve.

[Sotaris]

I'm probably only person but give me back my dots :/

[Vahlnir]

I'm probably only person but give me back my dots :/

[Sotaris]

[gotaname1]

instead of waiting for yoshi p and the devs to do what they should do, you could always ask papapachin to make what the smoll indie dev company cant. that way you can have more summons atleast visually. xD

[Tulzscha]

This idea's been thrown around a number of times. It's not bad but it doesn't address any of SMN's problems, I'd prefer incorporating additional summons in a way that offers more choice and varied gameplay.