Moev said:
It's two part really. 1st is alot of people have heard about the great acomplishments that SMN's have done on various servers. Which has gained some much needed respect for the job. I believe this has helped to increase the popluation of the job SMN serverwide, which typically was at about 1-2% before the "BOOM". However due to lack of proper information and guidance on how to excel at the job there are many many SMN's who play the job who don't fully understand the job and just what it has to offer and how to adapt to a party or whatever situation a SMN may find themselfs in, to the needs of that party or situation.
This was exactly the same thing that happened with bard. I'll admit that I was a pretty mediocre bard up til 48, when I gave it up. I didn't have whm leveled, and often went to exp as /rdm or /nin. I still maintained the basics of the job though, keeping appropriate songs up 95% of the time, while I would melee. However, unlike smn, when I took bard back up I got to experiment a lot more than a summoner does in exp. A summoner is often restricted to the role of main healer, so they can't try new things the way that I did. People saw and heard that a bard could greatly boost the exp of a party, but didn't realize what all went into that. Coupled with the limited usefulness that they were able to have at lower levels they ended up in mid levels not doing the things that a good bard should, that makes the party truely uber. The end result was level 60+ bards that refused to party with a paladin, because they didn't think it was possible to ballad them and buff the melee.
Solitia said:
I don't think it's quite true that any job is useless for CoP or not as effective in CoP. Skilled players and a thoughtful strategy go a long way to making a setup work.
My problem isn't that summoners are useless for CoP, it's that people think that they are something that they are not, due to things they have seen or heard about summoners in some CoP fights. Several people think that they need a summoner to win any CoP BC. That is far from true, and there are often better jobs for the fight. Aside from the first 3 promys, you are often better off with a whm if you want a healer, and often better off with a blm if you want a DD. A summoner isn't the best for either of those roles, which is what people need to realize. However, they can make a signifigant contribution to any fight, but often in a role that is only partially one or both of those two things.
I did several of the later CoP BC's with a summoner (Nicolette) and we managed to finish all the missions. She did come to some fights as whm, and was much more effective in those fights as a whm than she could have been as a smn. When she was a summoner she was more than a gimped whm, more than a moderate DD.
While there are no completely useless jobs for CoP, bst and thf are definately undesirable for most missions. They have no burst damage, which is often a large bonus for BC fights. They can be very useful for some fights, but as a whole they are the most useless jobs you can take into a CoP fight.
