Just like with my previous Arbalest thread, I'm coming forward about a class I feel has probably been one of the most "old" classes that time has not treated very well, the last time GS got any major changes not related to balance was when it received the Dimension Resonance and Chain Unsummon gimmick that ended up being contentiously received at best. Even now its still got potential to just be an unfun to fight mechanic when a Grand Summoner has more initiative than you do.
I think that leaving the unsummon playstyle in is fine, you'd need minimal changes aside from adjusting the maximum possible damage it can do. I think that part of it's kit does work, but the rest of the kit is very bare bones and is clearly just outdated, even having pre-GR numbers still in the case of some passives like Spirit Regeneration or Spirit Well.
What I'd like to see from Grand Summoner's eventual rework would be introducing some mechanical AND thematic strengths to the class, here is what I think Grand Summoner should be from an overview:
Grand Summoner only really fulfills these in a very halfhearted fashion, many of it's strengths having been covered by other classes now with access to even better tools than it can hope to have, I also am notably finding it a lot harder to assess what the strengths of this class should be compared to my previous Arbalest thread.
Thematic Strengths are a little easier for me to list out though:
I've played Grand Summoner in recent times with at least 3 characters now, the first was a offshoot build for my Verglas, that never winded up working out, the second was my "Zoo" build that combined GS and Druid summons, this was actually not all that bad, but it was heavily flawed (Plus I don't think anyone likes fighting 12 things at once), and lastly my current character who I had intended to be a Grand Summoner in every sense of the word and it just doesn't work man.
The main reason for that is that many youkai kinda just aren't that good, sure there's many of the more recent ones that are given good enough stats to work with, but unless you're talking about Ascended Suzaku or Byakko, these youkai do not possess the SKI to hit things with, and no longer can get good flanking bonuses either which WAS a way for them to help deal with that in the previous patches.
Bonder can give their youkai +10 or +20 hit and +6 all stats so another +12 hit on top of that, Shapeshifter can Chimera Install specific youkai abilities onto other youkai to create abominations like Genberboros or Drowned Nacht. Grand Summoner can summon youkai that are likely to die before they even get their turn, and you can spend an extra 3m to give them +5 all stats I guess.
Due to the nature of Ripple Dimension, perhaps giving the youkai some momentum to start with isn't always the best call, cause at some point you'll hit a critical momentum gain for someone daring to approach you, so I'd like to see something else that I'll also list shortly.
Some Additional Changes I'd like to see regarding some of these grievances:
Now I have some additional ideas to pitch in as well, but I'd like to separate those from the main post here, since they're mostly just ideas I've cooked up for fun or a direction to head in and collect my thoughts about, for the most part this is it for the main post.
I think that leaving the unsummon playstyle in is fine, you'd need minimal changes aside from adjusting the maximum possible damage it can do. I think that part of it's kit does work, but the rest of the kit is very bare bones and is clearly just outdated, even having pre-GR numbers still in the case of some passives like Spirit Regeneration or Spirit Well.
What I'd like to see from Grand Summoner's eventual rework would be introducing some mechanical AND thematic strengths to the class, here is what I think Grand Summoner should be from an overview:
- Great Offensive/Healing Caster
- Extremely High FP Sustain
- Decent Durability
- High Versatility
Grand Summoner only really fulfills these in a very halfhearted fashion, many of it's strengths having been covered by other classes now with access to even better tools than it can hope to have, I also am notably finding it a lot harder to assess what the strengths of this class should be compared to my previous Arbalest thread.
Thematic Strengths are a little easier for me to list out though:
- Caster Class, Access to Offensive/Healing spells and Invocations
- Access to more powerful youkai, likely through tribute summoning, like in Yugioh.
- Tools to target specific racial weaknesses (Youkai/Possessed)
- May treat youkai less fairly and more like Tools
- Ability to chain down and possibly even subjugate other youkai into their possession (Including Wild Youkai most likely)
- HAM it up on the anti-summoner theming of the class, make it King Shit of summoner classes.
I've played Grand Summoner in recent times with at least 3 characters now, the first was a offshoot build for my Verglas, that never winded up working out, the second was my "Zoo" build that combined GS and Druid summons, this was actually not all that bad, but it was heavily flawed (Plus I don't think anyone likes fighting 12 things at once), and lastly my current character who I had intended to be a Grand Summoner in every sense of the word and it just doesn't work man.
The main reason for that is that many youkai kinda just aren't that good, sure there's many of the more recent ones that are given good enough stats to work with, but unless you're talking about Ascended Suzaku or Byakko, these youkai do not possess the SKI to hit things with, and no longer can get good flanking bonuses either which WAS a way for them to help deal with that in the previous patches.
Bonder can give their youkai +10 or +20 hit and +6 all stats so another +12 hit on top of that, Shapeshifter can Chimera Install specific youkai abilities onto other youkai to create abominations like Genberboros or Drowned Nacht. Grand Summoner can summon youkai that are likely to die before they even get their turn, and you can spend an extra 3m to give them +5 all stats I guess.
Due to the nature of Ripple Dimension, perhaps giving the youkai some momentum to start with isn't always the best call, cause at some point you'll hit a critical momentum gain for someone daring to approach you, so I'd like to see something else that I'll also list shortly.
Some Additional Changes I'd like to see regarding some of these grievances:
- Youkai hit needs a method in which it can be increased somehow, I want to look at youkai having around 220-230 hit if that is possible, or maybe increasing the minimum hit chance for them specifically.
- Giving Youkai a heavy Damage Reduction until they receive their turn, so that they have a chance to do something before their HP is exhausted, the low range of Summoning them makes putting them into safer positions much more difficult.
- Allow Youkai to unsummon themselves, no more tasking the master with this.
- Less emphasis on swarming, I don't think anyone really likes when Youkai swarming is good, we've seen this in Pre-GR, we've seen this in GR1, nobody likes playing against this. This is already encouraged by keeping the maint costs high.
Now I have some additional ideas to pitch in as well, but I'd like to separate those from the main post here, since they're mostly just ideas I've cooked up for fun or a direction to head in and collect my thoughts about, for the most part this is it for the main post.
![[Image: zo2BdSr.pngp]](https://i.imgur.com/zo2BdSr.pngp)
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