summoner + scholar, or is it muck easier to be only one

[Gato]

when i started the game I figured by getting my conjurer and thaumaturge to lv 15 then getting my arcanist to lv 30 i could unlock summoner and scholar at the same time and basically use then as dps and healing options. so what i want to know is if anyone is playing both or if any plays with someone who does both? is playing both worth the trouble? which do you enjoy playing more and which is more welcome in groups? is archer mandatory to play summoner successfully? and is scholar effective healer?

answer one, a few, all or just leave a comment (thank you for your time)

[JGwinters]

I play both..but then again, I play a bit of all classes. You might want to pick and choose one of the two for your 'main' job when on ACN, otherwise you might run into optimization troubles for your distributable attribute points.

So far I'm enjoying both. You will of course start needing separate gear for the two in later levels, as one wants MND (and other heal stats) while the other wants INT (and other nuke stats) mainly. Even the books you use for the two will be different. Be sure you are capable of committing to gearing up both if you go down that route! SCH is much more in demand naturally, so I haven't had a chance to do events on SMN yet (most my FC is leveling DDs), so can't really tell how that functions in a party. Not much different from ACN I'm hoping. As for SCH effectiveness, I haven't had any trouble so far (done all story and optional dungeons up to Stone Vigil). What I generally do is solo on SMN and party up on SCH, makes it a very efficient approach for me personally.

Eventually you will want to get all your cross-class abilities for the jobs you use, yes. It's not strictly necessary to be successful, at least early on, but the higher you get the more necessary they become for being the best you can be (and yes, I'd say in some cases mandatory, depending on how much endgame you do).

[Porcelyn]

Is it a crazy idea to go all mind on sch?

[JGwinters]

I wouldn't say it's crazy, SCH gets Cleric Stance after all which might even make it a very good idea. However, I'm not a number-cruncher, so my intuition may be wrong here.

[Estellios]

If you have no intention on playing SMN, then yes all MND on SCH is fine. Cleric stance will swap your INT and MND on top of boosting your Magic Attack. Your DoTs will still be fairly weak without Cleric Stance regardless of your set points since all your endgame gear won't give you any INT.

But I should add that SCH is a capable healer just as much as WHM. WHM + SCH in the same party is an amazing combo.

[JowyAvilon]

I am mostly focused on being a Summoner as my main job BUT I have picked up Scholar as well to heal when I feel like it or to heal for a friend if they need one. Over all though my attribute bonus points are mostly in Int with a couple in mind and a couple in piety but thus far the healing as Scholar still seems pretty solid even being pointed that way. Gear wise though as mentioned Sch wants more Mind and Smn wants more int, but at 45 and 50 it helps ease it out a little bit cause at 45 you get the first pieces of your job armor and at 50 you get the last piece so that helps with the gear differentiation starting out at least.