Now I know they probably would never bring dots back for SMN but hear me out

[Vandso]

Imagine if at level 100 you gain a third Aetherflow charge. And then you got Miasma, which is a 30 second dot, costs 1 Aetherflow and deals about 50% more damage than Fester at full duration. So instead of spending all Aetherflow charges with Fester on Bahamut's phase, you would spend one with Fester, one with Miasma and the other you would hold, because since Miasma only lasts 30 seconds and Energy Drain has a 60 second cooldown, you would have to use another Miasma later (during your second Egi summon) to cover the whole duration. And then on Phoenix phase you would still hold two charges, but one you would use in Miasma (after 30 seconds) and the other will be a second Fester during the Searing Light buff.

Now this would be even more interesting with 4 Aetherflow charges, you would have a really busy and satisfying second Bahamut Phase.
(Summon Bahamut > Searing Light > Astral Impulse > Fester > Fester > Astral Impulse > Energy Drain > Miasma > Astral Impulse > Fester > Fester > Astral Impulse > Deathflare > Enkindle Bahamut > Astral Impulse > Astral Impulse)

Btw it doesn't need to be a dot, it may be a damage buff as well.

[Coatl]

I mean if they don't give back a third aetherflow I'm gonna be mad regardless.

[Silver-Strider]

The cynic in me sees a world where Aetherflow is completely cut from SMN and Painflare/Fester are turned into just standalone oGCDs that share a CD.
That way, SE can slap a trait at level 96 that gives you an extra charge of both before they call it a day.

I would not be surprised at all if it happened.

[Renathras]

I'm not sure if they want DoT Jobs or not - the Healers seem stuck with them as well as several random "one-off" DoTs like GNB and PLD's that are just there for...no real reason as far as I can tell (just being flat damage buttons wouldn't make any difference to how they're used) - but they clearly don't want SMN to be the DoT Job.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Sorry, bard is the only DoT class now.

[Eorzean_username]

Sorry, bard is the only DoT class now.

(laughs in 7.0)

[TheMightyMollusk]

My crystal ball is out for a polish, so I'll have to wait for the future to get here before I worry about it.

[dspguy]

The cynic in me sees a world where Aetherflow is completely cut from SMN and Painflare/Fester are turned into just standalone oGCDs that share a CD.
That way, SE can slap a trait at level 96 that gives you an extra charge of both before they call it a day.

I would not be surprised at all if it happened.

This is more likely than not. Every expansion, they have to combine/remove abilities to make room for new abilities. They've been doing this since HW was released. Keep in mind that our hotbars were near full at the end of ARR... yet somehow they've added 40 more levels and we still have free room. Yes, I know some of them are just traits that update existing abilities. But even so, jobs always get some new buttons to click. We just lose other ones in the process.

[TheDecay]

This is more likely than not. Every expansion, they have to combine/remove abilities to make room for new abilities. They've been doing this since HW was released. Keep in mind that our hotbars were near full at the end of ARR... yet somehow they've added 40 more levels and we still have free room. Yes, I know some of them are just traits that update existing abilities. But even so, jobs always get some new buttons to click. We just lose other ones in the process.

Makes more sense on a job like SAM than a job like SMN where you can't even fill up two hotbars.