New Summoner skill idea/concept whatever

[Lavinia]

Not sure if I should stick this in the skill suggestion thread since its just a not fleshed out out concept.  I'm just going to quote the idea description I sent to another player here.

I was also thinkin, MMO's are all about builds, fire mage build, ice mage build, poison rogue build and so forth. Summoners don't really have enough similar summons for that. Each had a situational purpose, sure some over lap, but for doing straight up damage the only summons I can get are skeleton, salamander, or the harpy. Everything else is healin or utility summons. So if you'd want to say play a necromancer build, you'd only be restricted to the skeleton for pure offense, the phantom is meh and the dullahan is a tank so meh. That's where this idea comes into play. A toggle skill for when it's toggled all summons but one will be forcefully desummoned and then you will be allowed to summon a second version of the remaining summon. While it is active you can not summon any other summon other than the original. So you can't for example summon two salamanders then try and summon a carbuncle or something. It would be a T2 skill so at level 60 you can summon a third and maybe at 90 a forth.

Just a rough thought, this would allow the summoner to focus on one particular role, damage dealing, healing, tanking(Army of 3 meter high golems makes me giggle) instead of with the current summon list focus on bringing a bit of everything.  Thoughts, comments and concerns?  Have a nice day. :)

[lukavminaev]

As player, I am okay with this. Since MP drainage still same as in normal summoning multiple different summons. Says, using three carbuncles to triple heal someone, MP costs will also tripled. The restriction to not summon other type will add as balance.

[Lavinia]

I didn't think the carbuncles natural healing skill cost the summoner MP. But this is off topic.

[Murasaki]

You already can summon more than one of the same Follower (not many Summoners on the site so it's probably lesser known), although naturally your MP upkeep will be slightly increased to compensate for the multiple summons active.

[Lavinia]

Someone told me you couldn't. As always, thank you Murasaki.

[Lavinia]

One last question if you wish to indulge me further. For summoning my minions I always viewed it like a toggle skill. If that is the case and I'm going to summon more than one would they all just appear together?

[Murasaki]

It's actually a little more detailed since you could otherwise summon out a golem to instantly take a hit for you. Summoning times are similar to cast times, with higher tier summons taking a longer time to bring out. If you want to summon three, you have to cast the summoning skill three times. Perhaps a skill can be made toallow simultaneous summonings.

I'll be adding summoning times in a moment.

[Lavinia]

I've always given myself a set time required to summon something. But a official number wouldn't hurt. Although it might limit some people in the summoning animation they'd like. For example, to summon my golem it takes roughly 2 seconds. If I could throw an idea out for it, to summon more than one golem, maybe the summoning spell could be channeled for another 2 seconds to summon the second golem and so on?

[Murasaki]

Golem and other Tier Is are now 2 seconds to summon indeed, it's added to the skills list.

I guess it would essentially be the same thing to hold the casting for another 2 seconds as opposed to performing the spell once again. Both methods would take 4 seconds to summon two golems.

I was just throwing out an idea for a potential future skill where you could summon three golems in say 3-5 seconds instead of the usual 6. Summoned followers would probably get a small debuff for the first few seconds they're out to compensate for the hastened summoning.

[Lavinia]

I like that idea

[Caligula]

That multiple summons all existing at once thing... How does that apply to Skeletons? Does that mean thay are all the same Skele with the same equipment or are they all a different skeleton with the possibility of differing equipment?

[Murasaki]

You can have different Skeletons holding different stuff. They all have around the same type of damage, though.

[Caligula]

And finally can this be assumed for Summoning Skills of other classes unless stated otherwise? Would a Shaman be able to summon multiple Shikigami for example?

[Murasaki]

Yes, although it's less effective for other classes. Druid is fairly restrictive on what you can and can't have active at once, for example. Shaman's Shikigami skills only targets one Shikigami at a time, so having a bunch at once is not very practical unless you're going pure scouting mode.