Summoner

cush2187

Is it worth becoming a summoner??  I really like the idea of becoming a summoner however many ppl have told me that its not worth being a summoner because the only reason why you'll be picked for a party is for your sub-job whm or blm.  Is this true?  They also said that finding jobs as a summoner is very difficult because no-one really needs a summoner on their team.  Just wondering what everyone thinks about summoners:)

Sidius604

I'd have to say that your friend is just telling you what everyone who has never played SMN says. I don't have that much trouble getting a party, in fact my Thief has a harder time. True some people pick you up just to heal or later on buff the party but I would never say that a SMN has no place in a party. We have some of the best party buffs in the game not to mention end game we are arguably the best DD in the game (we get huge increases in the strength of our blood pacts and get some crazy DD abilities). It can b e a tough road at times but you can always go solo for almost the same exp p/hr as a party when you get 51+ with a light staff and a pair of carby mitts.

cush2187

Awesome thx for the info! I guess once I get my whm to lvl 30 ill start to do the summoner quest

Jenoveh

At lvl 70+ your summons bloodpacts can outdamage almost everything in the game except maybe a blm.
Also it is the best job to farm with at endgame (some ppl say bst is better but i disagree)
in other words: geting to 70+ might suck but it's worth it.

Teioh

As a summoner, you're pretty much stuck healing for exp parties as long
as you're in them, mostly because you can only use an ability from your
summon every 50s-1m, which if you did nothing but use your main job
you'd be left with a large amount of the time sitting there doing
nothing, and having your Mp being relativly full, which would be a
shame as you have the highest mp pool and gain it back slightly faster
than most.


So, what you will usually be doing in most parties is summoning an
avatar, cast a spell with it (usually group stoneskin), then dismiss it
and heal the tank while you wait for your bloodpact timer to cool down.


On 70 you get some impressive damage from your blood pacts, but again,
being limited by a timer makes them rather poor sources of damage in an
exp party, where you'll only be able to get a single nuke off every 1-2
mobs.

Where these nukes shine though, is on raid type monsters, where you
will be one of the type damage dealers for your consistant and hate
free damage.

How often you find a group depends on what else is seeking. Most likely, people will choose a White Mage instead of you if one is searching, or a Red Mage if they don't mind healing (Some get their panties in a wad when asked to play healer). Still, it's better odds than most melee find, where they have 8-9 other jobs to compete with.