[DarkRift]

On the official FFXIV website there is a piece of art with a scene what looks like a bar/restaurant. There are all kinds of characters depicted in the shot. You can see a whitemage, blm, a dancer (maybe pup?), and i think a drg. Most importantly on the far left hand side of the picture there is this taru with horns (like the devil) which I am told is how summoner was portrayed in "Tactics" (not sure what ff game that was i never played it)....

(also of course this is a piece of artwork... it may not really represent the jobs in the next game, but lets just pretend for now)

Anyways... Lets say summoner or a job like it is in the game.


2 questions.

1. Who is going to be a career summoner in the next game?

2. Who is going to quit ffxi and play FFXIV?

3. Do you think the windower team will make stuff for FFXIV? (unrelated question i know)

[DarkRift]

1. i may be a career summoner. I am a little worried I will be picking a job again that is very situational. I may choose something different as we get more information about jobs that will be in the next game. For now my answer is yes, but could easily change.

2. I am going to quit so god damn fast when FFXIV comes out. (so fucking sick of this game and the grind) (also also my LS is going to move so should be an easy decision.)

3. I hope to see windower team move, but I am not even sure we will even need them... who knows maybe SE will add stuff like TP party as a constant in game...? But I am sure we could use windower team to add nice tweaks to stuff.

And im sure some of you want spellcast !

[Vigilous]

which I am told is how summoner was portrayed in "Tactics" (not sure what ff game that was i never played it)....

Summoner never had two horns, especially in Tactics. It's always been the one. What this person must be referring to is a race from one of the FF:Tactics Advanced games.

[Tzaellia]

Summoner never had two horns, especially in Tactics. It's always been the one. What this person must be referring to is a race from one of the FF:Tactics Advanced games.

You are correct. Not sure where people have gotten that from. The only two horned race that was playable in the FF family is Gria (Half human, half Dragon) from FFT: A2. A small but very powerful race if you picked the right job for them. The one below is set on Geomancer Class.


The next picture is of the Summoner job class in the same game FFT: A2. As you can see there is a clear difference in looks. Note the traditional single horn head gear.




To answer to questions Darkrift has put forward:

1. Yes, if SMN is a job class in FFF14 I will definately make it one of my main job. In FF11 it was my first job to 75 and I'll do it again.

2. I will be one the vast many who will quit this game and move towards FF14

3. As long as the Windower team decides to play the new game I don't see why they wouldn't feel the need to adapt a new Windower for it.

[Corolie]

I'll be playing summoner however it won't be my first class that'll be maxing out in this game , but should be interesting to watch the new avatars in action

[rambus]

summoner would of been my first job if it wasn't such a pain to play it ( hi, i wasn't told in 2003 you needed a 60+ job to bei t etc..)

i just hope darkrift dont summon a pup!

[KyeLeviathan]

1. I can't say for sure if I'll play SMN in FFXIV, but it's definitely a job I'll be eager to try. Leveling SMN in XI has left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, not that it wasn't fun, just because of the long hours of sitting in Whitegate twiddling my thumbs. As long as they find some way to make SMN more group-oriented and hopefully "faster", I'm on board.

2. I'll definitely be jumping ship the moment I get my hands on a copy of XIV, if not sooner. I think I've played XI long enough, I'm eager for something new!

[Corolie]

2. I'll definitely be jumping ship the moment I get my hands on a copy of XIV, if not sooner. I think I've played XI long enough, I'm eager for something new!

Blast that reminds me I still need to buy a ps3 in order to play this >< damn you sony!!!! lol

[KyeLeviathan]

Blast that reminds me dry.gif I still need to buy a ps3 in order to play this >< damn you sony!!!! lol

You and me both. Luckily I have a birthday and Christmas before this gets released...! Most likely two birthdays since we are talking about SE...

[Tzaellia]

Blast that reminds me I still need to buy a ps3 in order to play this >< damn you sony!!!! lol

Save a bit more and just get a good PC.

[Saniiro]

Save a bit more and just get a good PC.

Or craigslist a 4 USB PS3 model for 300-350 bucks... That's what I did, and it was one of the best gaming ventures I've ever made. A high quality PC would cost a bit more than that in parts, and despite what people try and advocate, it's not the easiest thing in the world for someone who doesn't already know how to build one; the setup tends to be a headache on a custom built pc, and most bundles you buy are never really good for gaming unless you pay 600-700+. Besides, if you're just buying it for gaming, you'd do better buying a console, considering so many MMOs and just generally good games are released for consoles only. Very few major games are released on PC only these days.

SE appears to be trying to make solo play and heavy customization standard across all jobs. I invision that by the end, all jobs will be universally useful. I'm thinking their job system is going to be like a full scale merit system that utilizes crystals. The lack of EXP really has me thinking that they're going to use crystal drops as a way to "purchase" stat enhancements, abilities, and spells for your job.

I really do honestly expect most, if not all, of the jobs to be completely usable in all situations. Maybe not initially, but definitely within the first year they'll be decently balanced; especially considering most of what they're doing is drawing from community comments from FFXI.

Just don't hype yourself up over it, don't go "I expect it to be bullshit", but don't go expecting Bahamut and Eden either.

You and me both. Luckily I have a birthday and Christmas before this gets released...! Most likely two birthdays since we are talking about SE...

The game has been in development for 4-5 years. It's pretty much done, they are just trying to do all of the necessary testing and pre-beta tweaking so that it launches smoothly. A worldwide, multi-platform (PC and PS3) simultaneous release is a -big thing-

If they didn't see it happening late 2010, they wouldn't have announced it the way they did. As far as I know, FFXIII was originally announced for 2009 for Japan and that hasn't changed. I'd say they are getting better at predicting their launch dates..

I can't wait until this "...but we're talking about SE..." fad tapers off... It's as if companies like Capcom, Microsoft, and Nintendo never delay their games.

1. I can't say for sure if I'll play SMN in FFXIV, but it's definitely a job I'll be eager to try. Leveling SMN in XI has left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, not that it wasn't fun, just because of the long hours of sitting in Whitegate twiddling my thumbs. As long as they find some way to make SMN more group-oriented and hopefully "faster", I'm on board.

Universal solo play says you might have a better time with SMN this time around. Here's hoping.

I'm thinking the reason FoV gives such limited exp is because how hard us vets had t owork in the very beginning compared to how it is now. Hopefully that'll translate to higher solo incomes across the board since we're all starting from scratch again. I'm hopeful, but honestly I've got myself a nice party of RL friends (6-10 so far, lol) who're going to start on launch day. Doesn't matter to me, I'll enjoy it even if partying is still the best exp.

[KyeLeviathan]

I can't wait until this "...but we're talking about SE..." fad tapers off... It's as if companies like Capcom, Microsoft, and Nintendo never delay their games.

Forgive me, I was just being facetious.

[octoberasian]

There was only one reason I stopped playing Summoner when I hit level 31 instead of taking it to 75 was this:

It was nothing more than a pseudo-White Mage for 31 levels.

If it wasn't like that up to level 70 and beyond, I would have taken it higher.  Healing Magic skill is lower on SMN than it is on RDM, why make it a primary healer in the majority of EXP parties?  Because of the large MP pool?  It felt less like a SMN and more like a fake healer in Summoner garb.  Yes, I did take SMN up to 31 before the small updates came later on.  However, the point of a Summoner is to summon avatars, deal unwieldy damage, and be a force to be reckon with.  It isn't a White Mage job, and it isn't a Beastmaster or Dragoon.

I will reconsider taking up Summoner again in XIV, if there is indeed a SMN job for it, if SE actually makes it like a Summoner job that is indicative and similar to all other Summoner jobs for other Final Fantasy series.  Heck, even come up with something that's even more creative like they did for FFXIII.

[Arkanethered]

There was only one reason I stopped playing Summoner when I hit level 31 instead of taking it to 75 was this:

It was nothing more than a pseudo-White Mage for 31 levels.

AF burns fixed this.

Speaking of which, if I play XIV and there is a Smn class.... Ill lvl it again, if it can be burned... >.>

[octoberasian]

AF burns fixed this.

Speaking of which, if I play XIV and there is a Smn class.... Ill lvl it again, if it can be burned... >.>

The problem with that is this: Your summoning magic skill would be so far behind that it'd be silly to even consider taking the easy way out and burning your way to 75 in a week.


My friend went from 10 to 75 SMN in roughly that amount of time, and is now trying to level her Summoning Magic skill which is at around 33 for Level 10 to 269 which is capped for 75, not including gear and merits.

That is something I want not to be included in XIV are burn parties of all types.  Burn parties take the skill out of the game and makes everything else mindless, repetitive, and less challenging.

[Arkanethered]

That is what I'm working on at the moment... Ro'Mave FOV is ftw... already at 180 in just a couple days from 40... also YYr: O

Anyways... on topic... I really hope that XIV has enough job diversity and like you said leans away from the grind/burn style of exp to catch my interest.

[Crispleaf]

AF burns fixed this.

Speaking of which, if I play XIV and there is a Smn class.... Ill lvl it again, if it can be burned... >.>

Ya know... I was just thinking about this...

I've been harping that a nerf was coming for summoners over this...

But then FFIV comes along which first and foremost emphasizes many vs. many battles. Do you think the lack of intervention in AF burns is due, in part, because it's a bit of an experiment that will shape the way FFIV does battles?

There aren't too many examples of many vs. many xp battles in FFXI other than the occasional pet job beastman and some ENMs.

[Tzaellia]

There was only one reason I stopped playing Summoner when I hit level 31 instead of taking it to 75 was this:

It was nothing more than a pseudo-White Mage for 31 levels.

If it wasn't like that up to level 70 and beyond, I would have taken it higher.  Healing Magic skill is lower on SMN than it is on RDM, why make it a primary healer in the majority of EXP parties?  Because of the large MP pool?  It felt less like a SMN and more like a fake healer in Summoner garb.  Yes, I did take SMN up to 31 before the small updates came later on.  However, the point of a Summoner is to summon avatars, deal unwieldy damage, and be a force to be reckon with.  It isn't a White Mage job, and it isn't a Beastmaster or Dragoon.

I will reconsider taking up Summoner again in XIV, if there is indeed a SMN job for it, if SE actually makes it like a Summoner job that is indicative and similar to all other Summoner jobs for other Final Fantasy series.  Heck, even come up with something that's even more creative like they did for FFXIII.

Did you have a chance to partake in any all SMN parties and fight bombs? Those were a lot fun back in the day. 5 SMNs and a refresher. I remember how I learnt to solo properly in Ifrit's Cauldrun with out dying. Even if there aren't SMN burn options in the new game I'll still pick SMN.

Oh and SMN doesn't have healing magic. It only has Summoning Magic. I used to do the Main healer thing waaaay back in the day. Then I joined a BST/SMN LS that was on my server at the time and boom, you play the job it was meant to be played.

SMN burns are all well and good (don't worry I'm not about to start up a SMN burn morality discussion) but once you hit 75 you have heaps of Summoning magic Skill ups to do. And it does get old quick if you don't have a 3rd party program to help you. A Lv. 75 SMN with Lv. 50 Summoning Magic is gonna be horrible at buffs and acc of their blood pacts on high level mobs.

But the main point it SMN all the wasy in the new game, burn or no burn. Plus I'm anxious to see just how well they remodel the avatars. Perfect example is Ifirt. Like from Final Fantasy 7 till now at 11. In his earlier forms he looked more earth/fire than just fire. But in FF11 he looks perfect. Side note, my fav looking avatar closing followed Leviathan.

FF7


FF8


FF9


FF10


FF11

[Crispleaf]

I'd have laughed if you had added a picture of an Airship for FF12...

[Shirai]

I'd have laughed if you had added a picture of an Airship for FF12...

Your wish is my command:

FF 12