The coming changes to the Summoner class don't sound super exciting, but more like a letdown. I was hoping for a modern concept, like the Summoner working more with their summoned elements as pets. For example, I summon an air pet and get access to air abilities like a short attack speed buff for a group member or I use the power of my earth pet and shield the group for a short time. It would be even cooler if you could control the pets yourself with special abilities from the spell bar. I imagine in a real world how the Summoner stands next to his pet, stretches out his hands, absorbs his energy, and uses it to destroy his enemies or support his group. I would like to see a new way of playing for the Summoner that has never been seen before. The upcoming concept is outdated since EQ1 and will not really contribute to increasing the fun of this class. Too bad.
I expect cool abilities to really be tied into the masteries and higher levels. At this rate of rollout though I fear for the game. Their summoner changes feel largely like a shake up to prep for the new masteries... You would get new pet abilities as you leveled up so I would trust some would eventually be more utility based. Physical focused group synergizes great with the Air pet given the right level and masteries. Caster focused group synergizes great with the flamable pet given the right level and masteries. The summoner gladly flexing into physical, magic, and off tanking rolls. I don't think that future is ruled out just yet.
I would personally be all for a revolutionary pet control system, but given the team size I honestly just hope for a larger fleshed out world more than anything. If they had star citizen money I would beg they build out a short duration "Assuming Direct Control" type spell to empower the pet abilities for the duration of the spell. The summoner might auto nuke or simply stand there depending on the boosted power of the pet during direct control. Once the summoner controlling the earth pet grabs agro perfectly then moves mobs into an ideal tank position they swap back. Prime some healing for the tank pet before it is overwhelmed... now that is flexing.
As for the actual changes:
Swarm ability (please note the sarcasm). As much as you will all miss the press-three-buttons-so-you-can-press-one gameplay, we are converting this ability concept into a stacking DoT called Mana Missiles.
No joke, I really did love the swarm mechanic. The majority was wrong! It was gold Joppa GOLD! Summoners could build up high damage WHILE not building any threat. Perfect for a pet class. I wished for a cooler spell effect though. Like a slowly spiraling earth spike aims down over head of the enemy, then a second, then a third. With the enemy fully oblivious, the three slowly whirling death spikes await the summoner's judgement. To bomb or not to bomb? WoomphWoomphWoomph!
In addition to this change, we will be increasing the arsenal of bomb-type abilities for the Summoner. In addition to Mana Bomb, we will be adding Clash Bomb, which will deal a high amount of Magic damage when it explodes, and a few other bomb types that will be revealed later. As with Mana Missiles, these bombs are designed to be woven into the Summoner’s greater focus on their pet abilities.
Pet synergy was absolutely lacking, hopefully a good fix... two dps bombs for two dps pets synergies feels a little on the nose... Really wish we branched out to a utility bombs to synergize with the MIA Titan. So many cool options there...
A very important change to emphasize as we wrap this section: pet’s no longer use their own Mana. Instead, all pet abilities that cost Mana will use the Summoner’s Mana.
I forsee this balance to eventually being broken and pets just auto attacking for best damage some day. Until then I dub thee Manaleech! /petattack
PUTTING THE SUMMON BACK IN SUMMONER
Nice this felt lacking. Containers though? Be prepared for the onslaught of tickets. EQ flashback: I used to love giving thousands of arrows and bandages to low level players to help them out. I hope we get more support options players actually need, especially at low levels. Summoners being helpful support overall though is ideal. That said handing out clickies can be exhausting at times. It would be cool if players summoned a "vendor" pet (baby Arcamentals have to pull their own weight!) giving out large numbers of summoned items with mastery.