It's expansion pack season in the realm of Hydaelyn, and last week, Final Fantasy 14 held a "Live Letter from the Producer", showcasing the new abilities the playable jobs could look forward to in Endwalker. The heart of the announcement was the Job Action Trailer, which flaunted new abilities for existing jobs and showed off the two new classes coming in the expansion, but many players agree that it was the summoner job–a class that has been available in the game since its re-launch as A Realm Reborn in 2014–that stole the show.
With the release of the Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker in November, there will be a total of 20 jobs available, each of which had their time to shine in the 19-minute trailer. The summoner's showcase of new abilities carved out a full 2 minutes of the trailer's overall time, clocking more time than even the new sage or reaper jobs were each given.
Historically, the summoner job has fought utilizing damage-over-time spells, which they could spread around to multiple targets while commanding a conjured elemental pet, called an "egi". At certain points, they also get the ability to summon an aspect of Bahamut and Phoenix, two iconic primals with strong ties to the game's story. With the changes upcoming in Endwalker, the DoT spells summoners have relied on for so long have been removed completely. Now, the summoner is able to summon aspects of Ifrit, Titan, or Garuda–the original primals confronted in the game's original launch–to unleash their ultimate attack, which then allows the summoner to wield the primal's power for a short time, modifying their own abilities with the elemental aspects of the entity they are attuned with.
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker Summoner Job
Drastic changes to jobs is nothing new to Final Fantasy 14, especially with the release of new expansion packs. The summoner in particular has changed a great deal since A Realm Reborn; Heavensward saw the introduction of the "Dreadwyrm Trance," and the first instance of borrowing power from the primals we tapped into, Stormblood saw the first chance to summon a miniature version of Bahamut, and Shadowbringers furthered these changes with the introduction of Phoenix, as well as a streamlining of the pet control system. The job has been changed so often and so significantly each expansion pack that many in the community joke that summoner is a new job every two years.
Summoning is an iconic type of magic across all Final Fantasy games, so it isn't hard to picture that the job would be popular in the critically-acclaimed MMORPG. The fact that summoners were limited in their actual ability to summon primals, and were instead limited to tiny manifestations of them, was always something that fans of the class hoped would change. The last two expansion packs saw a gradual shift, allowing them to achieve that goal, but with Endwalker, it seems like the Warriors of Light finally have their prayers answered.
Some players are, of course, sad to see their beloved DoT abilities, like Bio, Miasma, and Bane, go. They have served summoners well over the past seven years, and it is always hard to watch them go the way of similar spells removed in previous expansions, like Contagion and Shadow Flare. But sometimes, if you really love something, you need to know when to let it go. Change is a good thing, and the changes to the summoner are looking great.
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker releases on November 23 for PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: AOTF
