Summoner Issues & Player Feedback

[LittleArrow]

From all the things they could have done, they chose the worst one.

Of all the possible outcomes, they could've:

• Added Ramuh, Shiva and Leviathan during Phoenix phase. Even if it was just visuals, people would be way happier;
• Added Odin or Alexander as a 180s Egi-summon. Again, way cooler than another Bahamut;
• Added a fourth Egi-summon, even that would be fine (as long as it wasn't a remix of the already existing summons);
• Just reskined Bahamut. This would still suck, but it would suck less than having Bahamut to appear 3 times more than Phoenix in a fight;
• Didn't add any new summon, but made the Egi-summons physically attack their target like the Demi-summons, that way it would actually feel like a summoner;
• Added a new gauge that increases by 10 every time you use a lego, and when it gets 100 you can do the big aoe ability. This is way more interesting than simply having a follow up for the party buff, it doesn't even makes sense imo;
• Increased the Aetherflow gauge by 3 and making Energy Drain and Energy Siphon give 3 Aetherflows instead of 2. We need more buttons to press, not another tier for Fester;
• Gave us an ability like Energy Drain/Siphon that only gives 1 Aetherflow but has 30s cooldown. That's another alternative that is way more engaging than Fester 2.

Anyway, the more I think about how the new Summoner sucks, the more mad I get, and we know they won't change anything at this point. At least we now have confirmation that they don't listen or care about their playerbase, at least the western one. I'll just boycott Summoner for the next expansion and pretend I'm still worth something in this game.

I totally get the frustration, but don't give up! Summoner is still really fun. Of course, there are more complicated jobs out there, but they did change it for the better. It's not a weird dot mage, we have our classic basic summons. There might be a really cool story around Solar Bahamut. I'm 100% on your side, but if you enjoy the job, don't let criticisms / forums / whatever push you away from something that you enjoy. The job is still the same, they're just adding to it. It is a stomach punch to think we have to wait, but we're waiting with a job we already enjoy.

I say to try it out! Summoner is the single coolest job across all Final Fantasy franchises. It's such a cool job that even in the games they didn't have the job they still included the summons. I mean, come on, when you look up "best of.." or "all moves..." from a final fantasy game what do you find? Limit breaks and SUMMONS! Summoner is the most Final Fantasy job there is. It's not something you'll find in any other game. Warlock is a sad little worm of a job compared to pulling up Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda and watching them do their classic moves. Also, I don't care what they call him, Neo-Bahamut - actually it's really Bahamut Zero; Bahamut Zero is the coolest Bahamut there is!

Yes, SE really dropped the ball, but summoner is still fun and I think it's better than it has ever been for a Final Fantasy job in a Final Fantasy game!

I mean, look at this unit! It comes from space, spreads its wings to draw energy *cough*solarenergy*cough* and absolutely orbital blasts the enemy from space! I can honestly say, aside from the tanks, Summoner is the only job in the game where our base moves are 100% way cooler than our limit break! Solar Bahamut is going to be fun. SE still needs to add the other summons, but this was a super cool call back for a level 100 move.

[faiarrow]

There might be a really cool story around Solar Bahamut.

Given we used to actually get lore in the job quests, the things they stopped doing to give us the unified role quests to lessen the burden on the development cycle having to write quests for all the jobs, I doubt this. We have no lore for Phoenix and its trance beyond just '[finger guns] carteneau!' and Binding Coils if you do it since it's an optional raid series. Unless we get a sentence about it in the eventual 4th Encyclopaedia I highly doubt we're getting more beyond the casual PLL mention of 'this is more like what actual original bahamut was' and maybe a tiny bit of lore allusion in the tooltip.

The job is still the same, they're just adding to it. It is a stomach punch to think we have to wait, but we're waiting with a job we already enjoy. (...) Yes, SE really dropped the ball, but summoner is still fun and I think it's better than it has ever been for a Final Fantasy job in a Final Fantasy game!

I really wish I could have your level of optimism, and respectfully I do appreciate you're trying to make people see a light to what feels like the endless tunnel of gloom most long-term SMN players have had, however since the job has been unfun to play since 6.0 it's a bitter pill to swallow having to wait to see how further butchered it will be. Again, it LOOKS great, but we could have gotten so much better with an actual 2nd gem cycle between Bahamut and Phoenix with other summons, some risk-reward with how you cycle through particular gems for single/aoe buffs in burst phase, anything beyond the monotonous 1-2-3-Burst-1-2-3-Burst where 2/3 gems feel pitiful in damage.

"But the lore says we reached our aetherwell cap after Garuda thus can't imbue further summon essences" is the weakest excuse in a game that has, constantly, retconned major plot points before given its breaking this rule already with Solar Bahamut existing.

[LittleArrow]

Given we used to actually get lore in the job quests, the things they stopped doing to give us the unified role quests to lessen the burden on the development cycle having to write quests for all the jobs, I doubt this. We have no lore for Phoenix and its trance beyond just '[finger guns] carteneau!' and Binding Coils if you do it since it's an optional raid series. Unless we get a sentence about it in the eventual 4th Encyclopaedia I highly doubt we're getting more beyond the casual PLL mention of 'this is more like what actual original bahamut was' and maybe a tiny bit of lore allusion in the tooltip.



I really wish I could have your level of optimism, and respectfully I do appreciate you're trying to make people see a light to what feels like the endless tunnel of gloom most long-term SMN players have had, however since the job has been unfun to play since 6.0 it's a bitter pill to swallow having to wait to see how further butchered it will be. Again, it LOOKS great, but we could have gotten so much better with an actual 2nd gem cycle between Bahamut and Phoenix with other summons, some risk-reward with how you cycle through particular gems for single/aoe buffs in burst phase, anything beyond the monotonous 1-2-3-Burst-1-2-3-Burst where 2/3 gems feel pitiful in damage.

"But the lore says we reached our aetherwell cap after Garuda thus can't imbue further summon essences" is the weakest excuse in a game that has, constantly, retconned major plot points before given its breaking this rule already with Solar Bahamut existing.

I 100% respect your opinion, but that's what it is, an opinion. [EDIT] And my defense of the class is my opinion also.

I'm sorry that you find the job unfun. I really do feel bad for those that loved the way the job was before, but I'll never agree that the previous summoner was summoner - it wasn't. No summoner in any final fantasy has been that. Yoshi has stated it was essentially a FF reflavor of warlock from wow. I want FFXIV to bring a job that will make previous summoners happy. There are LOADS of debuffers in the FF games to choose from. I'm really hoping for that.

However, the current summoner IS fun, imo. Not every job has to have the complexity of old school XIV summoner. There are many jobs that I would say keep you on your toes. It's not a fix, and it's not an answer to the criticisms previous summoner players have, but I will always defend current summoner. I agree it needs to be built on. I'm gutted they didn't add more summons to the Phoenix phase. I do think there could be incredibly fun complexity to the job, but I will continue to absolutely enjoy watching these summons wreck monsters.

[faiarrow]

However, the current summoner IS fun. Not every job has to have the complexity of old school XIV summoner.

We will have to agree to disagree, since this is your opinion and as you elloquently put it, it is an opinion. It is fine to defend something you think is fun, but tonedeaf to not read the room and that the greater community consensus worldwide is mixed-to-negative seeing the developers double down on the simplification.

[LittleArrow]

We will have to agree to disagree, since this is your opinion and as you elloquently put it, it is an opinion. It is fine to defend something you think is fun, but tonedeaf to not read the room and that the greater community consensus worldwide is mixed-to-negative seeing the developers double down on the simplification.

I apologize if I seemed rude in anything I said. I do agree with you that I stand firmly in the side of the minority. I'll never submit to just being disappointed or angry without seeing any of the positives, because there are positives in this case, I believe.

Disappointment is a very difficult opinion to combat or try to balance. I'm disappointed too. I was specifically speaking to the player in my post, because I truly felt I could shed a positive light on their opinion. This is a forum, however, and it is absolutely probably best I just wait until the dust settles before continuing to post here, for myself included.

Meanwhile, I'm going to jump down the youtube rabbit hole of summons compilation videos from Final Fantasy games and get hyped. Summoner is, 100%, the best Final Fantasy job!