[Oceanfish]

Hi,

before I start really fast here I want to say I am a summoner ~lv.50 with avatars except

Fenrir. We all know summoner is not effectively functional (as a summoner, not as a WHM) at

this time. However, if they give this job more abilities from other classes or make it too

powerful in certain areas while giving it a wide range of abilities, there is the problem

with it becoming too well rounded and ridiculously unbalanced.

Summoners have one

benefit rarely mentioned over other casting classes, they don't really need to "

purchase" spells. Sure, you can buy a few spirits at the AH, sure you gotta probably buy

your fame stuff for the avatars, but those costs do not amount to but a fraction of what a

white or black mage must do to get their complete set of magic. All mages pretty much use

the same gear types, as well..so there isn't much of a difference in gear spending.



Where am I going with this? Well, we all want the avatar and spirit powers to be

better. But it seems like in every suggestion I've read there are no drawbacks for us, only

pluses. That doesn't really work. Summoners should be a powerful class, but there should be

a catch somewhere, similar to rangers and arrows, mages and spells, ninja with ninjitsu

regeant. My suggestions:

First, revamp avatar and spirit melee damage, accuracy, and

tech efficiency. Make them reasonably powerful, fearsome techniques to use, but not used

frequently as BLM spells or WHM cures. Make keeping the summoned being out a VALUE to the

party's damage output that contributes reasonably to the team within itself, perhaps

stronger than the melee players but at an mp cost that would not warrant the summoned avatar

to melee for more than 1/3-1/2 of the battle except in emergency.

Second, reduce

drastically the MP drain from the spirit spells, and allow recovery while they are out (not

the avatars, the spirits). Make them able to stay out for 3-5 fights before needing to be

recalled to rest.

Third, give all the special avatar techs different cooldown times

to blood pact. Support moves should have LONG cooldown to discourage from during battle use

to prevent perfect damage and support from 1 class at all times. Basically, the more

powerful the move, the more longer the cooldown. The techs should be increased relatively in

power (or in case of group blink, stoneskin kept the same with more cooldown) however, to

reflect these changes.

**Create new Alchemy synth items for summoning magic. Where

somehow you can take crystals and shatter them into crystal shards. Make shard stacks 99

max. Skill level 10-15 for shard creation. 1 crystal=3 shards

**Create a shard cost

for summoning spirits(not avatars). 10 Shards per summon. 1/2 on that element's day, 15 on

it's weakness day.

**Give avatar special moves shard costs, not all the moves, but

most.
Shard costs would be 50% on that element's day, and 150% on it's weak day.



**Create new ability Soul Pact, re-use 15 minutes, no shard cost for next avatar

move.

**During Astral Flow, no shard cost for spirit summoning or avatar moves will

be needed.

**Also, avatars should remain the same for only mp to call, mp to keep

out, but maybe increased mp drain with relative power and accuracy boost.

Hmm..I

can't think clearly its 4am almost for me, but I think if they implemented something like

this where summoner was POWERFUL in short burss but not an INFINITE source of power that can

do everything without some penalty. Feedback?

[Nohmaan]

You cant

use special moves with spirits. So... shards wouldn't really be effective in that

respect... =(

[Oceanfish]

You're missing the pt.

Summoning a spirit= many shards.
Maintaining spirit=

small mp drain, can regen mp
Spirits will cast random magic at no extra cost to the

summoner just like now, if not a bit more often. Using a spirit wouldn't be the most

powerful way for a summoner with avatars to play, just like now, but better than before.



Summoning avatar: no shard cost
Maintaining avatar: high mp drain, no mp heal,

but higher output than spirit, but abilities cost shards to activate
Avatar would be

powerful for those that had them and ideal for their abilities and the shards to continue to

use their abilities.

It would make being a lower lvl summoner without other avatars

better, but not still not as powerful near a real avatar summoner, and it would let the

player choose the mode of play based on the pt and their money making it disuasive to

constantly use costly moves and abilities.