Summoner - What it needs.

[Valmaxian]

Plus I mean reading a lot of these "I want to control pets!"-posts that otherwise are happy having it have no gameplay impact, I propose:

* Aspected nukes/AoEs are "commands", you press them, they cause a GCD, but the current summon uses the actual attack.
* Same for the major summon nukes, they're now pet attacks, triggered by GCD-inducing command skills on the Summoner.
* Summons stay out until a new one is summoned (pressing shield aborts them, brings out Carbuncle, buff shield to compensate).
* Reduce damage output slightly, give summons an autoattack that perfectly compensates the damage lost (so we got a DoT again, too!).

Done. I mean of course, about nothing has changed, gameplay is 99% identical. But the pet attacks, that visual distiction seems to be the big issue? (I'm not poking fun at it, I would like that change, but I also don't see the big deal)

Personally, I like a lot of this! Something I’d add: many of the past summons/espers didn’t deal damage, they brought utility. Some examples: FF4 Asura, FF6 Stray, Carbuncle, Kirin, Phoenix, Phantom, etc. I don’t suggest they add that amount of targeted utility to the job, but I think Summoner needs more nuance in its rotation. Adding additional utility to certain summons requires the player to choose the best time to summon specific eikons. This could manifest as HoT, movement speed increase, damage reduction, damage increase, debuff resistance, etc.

Also, while I like that you propose the summon doing most/all of the attacking, I personally enjoy contributing to the casting rotation of the job, it just needs more variety - more melee options, some differentiation between ST/AoE, fast vs. slow casts, etc.

[Carighan]

Also, while I like that you propose the summon doing most/all of the attacking, I personally enjoy contributing to the casting rotation of the job, it just needs more variety - more melee options, some differentiation between ST/AoE, fast vs. slow casts, etc.

Note that mechanically, it'd still be you doing the attacking. You use the command skills that might even have cast bars, and they cause GCDs. It'd be purely a visual/style/theme change to make the cast we cast not do anything immediately, but a second later Ifrit casts a big attack at the target or so.