SMN - Why it is not a very interesting job and not a good upgrade from ACN

[Jennavieve]

I actually like all the DoTs, I think a lot of people underestimate the value of them. However, I do agree that the class doesn't place enough importance on your summons. When I first read about the class I thought it was going to feel very similar to using a Red Mage in FFXI. It is similar but it feels like a watered down version of what a RDM could do.

I think adding a unique aura to each pet would be an interesting feature. For instance: Garuda's could deal DoT damage to any enemies in it's aura, Titan's could grant a damage reduction to enemies, and Ifrit's might give allies a bonus to their attacks. This is something that could add more focus on the summons and benefit the entire party.

More than anything I'd like to see more pet abilities. It would be nice to have a buff or two available like regen or some kind of dmg booster and I'm dying to have some CC added to the class. We get bind, but that's about it. I'd like to see us get some sleep, paralysis, or slow at least.

[Endelon]

This job wasn't available to test at all. We are basically testing it in the live game. Posts like this would really be great if you could also offer specific suggestions on how fix/change things. Not just general suggestions like "make our pets stronger" but give specific ideas like "increase pet damage by 10% and give each pet a special buff/ability (Ifrit gives a damage buff, Garuda gives __, etc.)" I can't really offer anything myself since I haven't gotten to 50 yet.

I don't know if developers will actually be looking at the English forums, but if they are, I think that they will be receptive to specific suggestions considering Summoner and Scholar were not able to be tested during the test weekends.

[Sehkmet]

This job wasn't available to test at all. We are basically testing it in the live game. Posts like this would really be great if you could also offer specific suggestions on how fix/change things. Not just general suggestions like "make our pets stronger" but give specific ideas like "increase pet damage by 10% and give each pet a special buff/ability (Ifrit gives a damage buff, Garuda gives __, etc.)" I can't really offer anything myself since I haven't gotten to 50 yet.

I don't know if developers will actually be looking at the English forums, but if they are, I think that they will be receptive to specific suggestions considering Summoner and Scholar were not able to be tested during the test weekends.

This is not a test in the Live Game... It's the final product. It already released. Do you really think they are going to change the "core functionality" of three entire classes at this point? They did it wrong when they released the class by the last beta without even getting the feedback from the community...
Never in my life I have seen a Final Fantasy Summoner handling poisons, like Bio, Miasma, or whatever...

Summoner should be a thaumaturge/conjurer job specialization. What summoner always had in the past were Black and/or White Magic and aside from that, the powerfull summons, that were it's own class of magic.

Each summon doing a different thing. Ifrit, Shiva and Ramuh doing all targets elemental damage, Carbuncle giving reflect to the entire party, Phoenix doing all target fire damage and casting raise in the entire party...
With the release of Final Fantasy X, Summoner evolved to become a real pet job. Now Yuna summoned the pet, and it had it's own array of abilities, that were customizable(The Summon could level up, yes.). You could have Valefor learn the entire Black Mage magic set, Have Shiva cast the Blizzard line of spells on herself to auto-heal. Your summons could even handle White Magic in their own kit.

That is what Final Fantasy XIV should have approached in the game, having a functionality more similar to the FFX and XI one, where the summons have their own kit, and your focus as the Summoner is just managing each summon to its full potential!
That makes the job much more versatile and fun! When you play FFXIV summoner, you just feel like a subpar Warlock with Deathknight like diseases. It's sad.

[Rover1983]

My complaint so far is the lack of pet damage. Our pets are pathetic. They need to be much stronger then they are. Currently I do at least quadruple the damage my pet does. That is not why I made a pet class who specializes in pets.

[Yelh]

The pet isn't a must have, sometimes i'm playing without my pet, because i totaly forgot to summon him or notice he was dead... and i'm still doing well lol
Btw all class can summon a chocobo to fight also, make them SMN too ??

[Isklar]

Very useful post, I completely agree.

I experimented a little bit and was quite disappointed myself, hopefully this will get seen to !

[Vallhallix]

Better than BLM. Which is just a Thaum with Flare. You start as a thaum end as a blm doing the same rotations since low lvl.

[Crevox]

Better than BLM. Which is just a Thaum with Flare. You start as a thaum end as a blm doing the same rotations since low lvl.

The thing is that Thaumaturge plays exactly like a Black Mage should, casting elemental magic to decimate enemies. Both Arcanist and Summoner do not match Summoner at all.

It's like no one in this thread is creative. Everyone just seems to think if Summoner is to be a pet class, it has to copy paste FFXI EXACTLY or be overpowered or something. There are TONS of ways to do a proper pet class in an MMORPG, and they copied the wrong class (Warlock) to fulfill the position for a pet class. Even past all of that, they could've come up with their own idea and done something unique, but they didn't.

[Advocatus]

I thought this was relevant. I'm still looking at all of the DPS jobs to see what I like, so we'll have to find out later if this discussion pertains to me at all or not.

[YanderePrincess]

I thought this was relevant. I'm still looking at all of the DPS jobs to see what I like, so we'll have to find out later if this discussion pertains to me at all or not.

That video is a little out-dated. SMN can't use Thunder anymore, though not sure how big of an impact that would have on the video's assessment.