2.0 Primal Mechanics (Will we even have a summoner?)

[Eclipse]

http://xivpads.com/?E32012

"In 2.0 there will only be one of each primal per world. So one Ifrit, maybe one Shiva maybe one Ramuh, per world. These primals will be somewhere in the open world, roaming, and players will need to find them and then get together to defeat the primals. If they win and are the first to defeat it, the primal will come under their (temporary) control. For a 2-week period, the free company or linkshell who defeated the primal will have time to raise up the primals’ “gauge”.

If they get it sufficiently raised, they will get to choose when and where to summon the primal for help. It could be used in any battle, and once they use it, the weather in the whole world will change so everyone in the world will know that the group used the primal. Once they summon the primal, it will of course return to the open world."

1. Are primals what we would call summons for summoners?

2. Are world primals replacing summons?

3. This alerts me to the question of will there be a summoner class at all? If yes then...

Pro.
Yay they are finally touching on the open world mechanic, bringing back roaming or world NM's for people to tackle. This is something that will essentially promote Linkshell bonds and communities to become strong again and (I hope) promote fewer Linkshell hoppers / multi-Linkshell holders.

The But
But instead of the world NM's being Fafnir or Niddhog or Tiamat once more, we are looking forward to chasing around Primals. For those of us looking forward to playing a job like Summoner doesn't look like we will be summoning much of anything. Hey, maybe Carbuncle... hehe.

Con.
I am disappointed because my favorite version of Summoner was from FFXI and unfortunately it does not look like it is going to be happening with this MMO. I know that XI did it with Ixion and XI had an instance for Odin, however what made XI Summoner fun for me is being able to have that comradery with your summons. You could summon anywhere and have them follow you along, beautiful and in all their glory. And we know it was not without cost or price, we did have to wear specific gear which kept our mana pool from draining. If not eventually they would despawn.

Encouragement
Dear Yoshida,
Thank you so much for turning the game around. I know we are all looking forward to 2.0 and the changes. I would like you to consider keeping some of our pastimes the same such as Summoner from XI. Summoner from XI has such a strong following. Please take into consideration many of the things we loved about Summoner and how it may coincide with what this game may be lacking for some. In my opinion, a different class dynamic, pet classes and the ability to call on those pets to walk around with you. Lets look at another MMO which you in fact play(ed) World of Warcraft; Hunters get to have their pet with them at all times and even have some interaction with them, A warlock gets to have their summons out as well. When you walk through a town and you see a bunch of people running around, well it gets a bit monotonous but when you see a town with people and pets, summons, their NPCs and (maybe even mounts) for me this provides diversity and creates a world that appears more alive, also seeing those may inspire others to go out and get their new Pet, Summon or NPC keeping the world flowing and alive. What first inspired me to play Summoner in XI was just that, a Summoner with Leviathan out. All I could say was "Beautiful."

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

E.H.

I couldn't find anywhere that stated we were not going to have Summoners. I did hear they may be different. I really hope not.

[Estellios]

They said summoners would be getting "lesser summons" that have been available throughout the series. Carbuncle was an example, 2.0 artwork has shown Cait Sith and Fenrir which would have a very high chance of being summons.

[Wevlum]

There will most likely be some form of summoner since not only was summoner in the last poll but it also won the poll. I can see why some people might be disappointed about not summoning Ifrit etc on SMN because it's a very FF thing to do... but at the same time it might be nice to see some new or less used summons.

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

I'm thinking the plot is going develope in such a way that different types of primals will emerge, much like how in FFXI you had the celestial avatars (Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Titan, Leviathan, Garuda) and then there were the terrestrial avatars (Carbuncle, Fenrir, Phoenix, Diabolos, Bahamut) There were also, the avatars of light and darkness (Odin and Alexander), as well as the Time avatar (Atomos).

I'm thinking summoners will summon primals as well, but they will be considered a different type of primals than the ones we know currently. Doesn't necessarily mean they will be "lesser" than the current primals, just different.