Questions on Summoner?

[Vaigrant]

While I have no intention of becoming a "Main Stream Summoner" as Rdm is my first and foremost passion. I was wondering how I could play Summoner without becoming the Heal Monkey as I have seen many a Summoner been Reduced to through my career.

While I dont mind healing, Id really rather put my Summons to use for more than just the occassional BP{Or at the lvl Im at, Id never summon them at all,,,,,Hail the Dune PTS X_X}. I never took Summoner past lvl 10 due to the fact Ive only ever seent a Summoner play the Whm Role adn frankly I have Whm to lvl if I wanna do that, Id rather hear about ways I can really use a Summoner as a SUMMONER.

[Icemage]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

Want to not be a heal monkey? Get Summoner to level 75, get Fenrir, get Diablos. I guarantee then (and generally speaking, only then) will you not be treated as "just a healer".

For XP parties, Summoners make reasonable main healers, and better backup healers. What else were you planning to do for the 45-50 seconds when you don't have an avatar up?

Are you seriously going to ask your already overworked RDM (who is casting Refreshes, Hastes, Dispels and enfeebles) to also main heal while you sit with an avatar bleeding MP like water and act like casting a healing spell will give you an infectious disease?


Icemage

[Vaigrant]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

And Rdm is hardly over worked, only if your a horrible multi tasker.

But seriously, if all Im gonna do is be a Heal Monkey {By Meaning MAIN HEALER, Sub heal Im fine with}, then Ill just lvl Whm and leave Smn at 10, there is no point in playing the same Job from 1-75 2x over.

[Murphie]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

Compared to your average SMN, Red Mage is pretty dang busy, actually.

[Icemage]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

And Rdm is hardly over worked, only if your a horrible multi tasker.

Well, if you play RDM like you're only a Refresh whore and like earning less XP, then sure go for it. But a RDM in a party with a non-healing SMN is for sure overworked, because there's literally no one else in the party that will pick up the slack, unless you get lucky and are blessed with a Bard who can backup heal.

But seriously, if all Im gonna do is be a Heal Monkey {By Meaning MAIN HEALER, Sub heal Im fine with}, then Ill just lvl Whm and leave Smn at 10, there is no point in playing the same Job from 1-75 2x over.

No point? Well, SMN do occasionally get to attack (so do WHMs, for that matter, under the right circumstances). They're not the same job, even if they fill similar roles at times, the same way RDM and WHM often fill the same roles. But you need to understand that what you want is not going to make much impact to what the rest of your party wants. At that point, you can either refuse and find a more enlightened party, or settle down and earn some XP so you can hit that magic level 75 and not worry about stupid people in XP parties anymore.


Icemage

[Vaigrant]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

Busy yes Murphy but I wouldnt say it was overworked. I cover all bases as a Rdm as much as I can, I dont think theres an Enfeeble not on the Mob or a Refresh/Haste/Regen on my party at all times, and heal when I need to.

I MB whenever I can, rest till I see the stuff fall off{Which is all but 1 second from taking a knee lol}.

There isnt a moment when Im not doing something in the PT as a Rdm. But I was asking besides healing, cause thats all Ive ever seen a Smn do in my PTs, what can a Smn do to avoid the monotinousy of healing. Whm at least at early lvls can get some Enhances out there to take away from the drudgery of being Main Heal{My Whm is still under 30 so >.>}

At what point does Summoner get to do MORE than Heal, I mean if I have to suffer through the Dunes{God help all who enter} as a Whm Replacement then Ill do so till I can do more. I just want to get stuck in the same drudge of always having to be Main Heal as a Summoner, cause thats ALL Ive seen on my Server.

[Murphie]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

SMN gets to do more than just heal right away. They just have a minute to wait in between. So that's ideal time to heal.

[Vaigrant]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

Oh ok, well see I dont know squat about Smn lol. So seriously what are my options, cause Ive been lvling Sam in between my SP For Rdm and every time we have a smn the rest of hte PT throws a fit if they see an Avitar summoned "No you just heal dont summon" from like 4 people.

So my knowledge on how a Smn should be as apposed to the heal monky is very limited. I know at lvl 10 you get access to the Lvl II Elemental Spells, so possibly MBing from a SC at that time would be good, or whats this bit about the Summons getting TP Ive heard about? Hows that work.

[Xylaa]

Re: Questions on Summoner?

In parties, from 10-25 or so you can MB and back up heal. A little after 25, magic bursts start to drop off, but you can still MB and skillchain with the melee. In the jungles is when you get some decent physical bloodpacts, some of which have an enfeebling affect.

I'd stick to MB/SC while back up healing til 41/42. Also, be smart with what bloodpacts you use. If the party has a war using a great axe, a dragoon, and a samurai, don't use Rolling Thunder. But if the melee DD are fast hitters (nin, mnk, thf, wtc.) then Rolling Thunder can actually be useful.

At 42 you get Cure III and Regen, which make main healing MUCH easier. From then on you'll tend to main heal while buffing. I remember the best party I had from 45-60 was in Kuftal Tunnel at 51, I always kept Haste and Stoneskin on everyone, and main healed. The ninja was amazing, I never fell below 500 MP, we got 6k exp per hour, which is pretty good for that level.

After 60, you can again MB with tier 4 bloodpacts, doing around 600-800 damage depending on TP, all while main healing. 65 you get Eclipse Bite, which has some ok damage to throw out every now and then, especially if you're fighting Dhamel and they berserk. Don't neglect buffing here though, as it's still useful. Just figure out what you should do in each party.

Yes, you will be main healing most of the time you play summoner. But what makes it fun is keeping up MP, buffing/semi-DD, and keeping the party alive all at once.

Also, at lvl 51, you can solo quite well, or duo/trio with other summoners. That's all I did from 52-59, and I got anywhere between 3k-4.5k exp per hour. It also teaches you a lot about the job that, amazingly, most summoners don't know about (talking from my experience).