So, I'm a big fan of pet classes in any MMO and when I saw the Daedric Summoning skill tree I was at first very excited, however in game the skills are both very dull and very weak.

there are only 3 summons in the game, the first is the unstable familiar which was so weak it took it about 10 seconds to do the equivalent of one of my regular attacks when I tested it out. it also dies very quickly. You can mutate it but it really doesnt make it much better. it's just way to weak with no special abilities.

the twilight familiar is a little tougher, but again, it is weak, it's nice that it can be built into a support type creature, i could see both the heal and mana regen being useful but I want a combat pet, not an extra source of regen.

the storm Atronach is actually very strong, my main issue with it is that it's basically an immobile turret rather than a creature. it lasts for short duration, can't move does a bunch of damage and then that's it.

The bound armor and ward are ok but the fact that all your spells limit your mana means that you won't be able to do much more than keep them active. I really am dissapointed in the summoning tree, as in skyrim I was strolling around with a daedric prince and storm atronach following me around laying waste to the country side. I don't expect to be overpowered but I would like something that at least tries to make pets/summons just a little bit interesting, you can't even control them.

Combat is skill based, no autopilot mode...

ironically the summoning spells are auto-pilot mode when they could be skill based. right now you summon a creature and it does whatever it feels like. if they gave you control over it somehow, then it would add a lot more to combat as you would have to manage your summons. that would be more skill based

They're basically free DPS on top of whatever else you can do. They seem reasonably balanced for that. The only way to balance it to make a "pure summoner" viable would be some kind of trait that increased the number and power of your summons while rendering you completely unable to use non-summon skills.

Doesn't the morphed familiar have a knockdown spell? Or a stun, I read somewhere it was better than the dinosaur...

I agree with some more control, but it is free damage in the end.

Other games have balanced pet classes, I don't see why ESO should be exempt. Nobody's calling the Rift Necromancer or WoW Hunter/Demolock OP.

That wing twilight was overpowered I thought haha. It's a beast.

Yup, apart from the Ultimate and Curse, its a dead tree. Not sure why they even bothered with it, tbh. I actually cannot think of a weaker class skill tree than the Daedric Summoning.

I had to giggle when I saw so many Sorcs running around solo PvE with it in beta.

The worst is that you know it can never be meaninginfully improved because this game/franchise is set to appeal strongly to the console market. So, there goes any semblance of control or exotic abilities from your Summons in future...

They should have made it a full Damage-Over-Time (DoT) tree instead.

Dont forget to mension the stupid purple color to them

I must admit I was highly disappointed when I saw no dedicated Pet Class. I suppose it leaves room for future class though.

Breton Summoner with Restoration Staff/Frost Staff is begging to come forth. You can have multiple summons at once.

But yeah, if you want to enjoy PVP, summoning is clearly a waste but then again I suppose a zerg squad of summoners with 2-3 morphed summons each would be a nightmare if you had 10 players + 20/30 summons...

Also a circle of storm atronachs around them to protected themselves, gg zerg rushes xD.

My only complaint on pets was aesthetic, a demon monkey and a demon dinosaur? Is this traditional TES stuff or do the devs just have a limited imagination?

I would like to see a skill line for summoning natural animals like lions and tigers and bears.

Oh my.

Yeah the summoner skills was a bit disappointing. The two creatures are not very exciting and they appeared to be quite weak with limited usefullness especialy in group play.

That free DPS isn't much though. I switched from summoning to storm and did amazingly better. My skill points in summoning were actually holding me back, and I'm a pet class lover. In PvP forget it, they're 100% worthless and you'll wish you never spent those skill points in that tree.

One big problem is we don't get most of the good summons from other TES games. Storm atronach doesn't even move and winged twilights are a mere shadow of their TES selves. if we had flame atronachs, frost atronachs, they actually moved, dead thralls etc. there might be some usefulness in summoning. The other big problem is one I just mentioned: the few we do get from other TES games are nowhere near as powerful as they should be. Conjure Storm Atronach is a pretty powerful spell, and the flame and frost atronachs had their uses too, but they were mobile and long-lasting, not turrets that only last a few seconds.

For one example, I used a storm atronach to help kill a boss in Daggerfall Keep, some assassin. The storm atronach stood there, not doing much damage and only sticking around for a few seconds, and I lost the fight. I had a clannfear too but he literally died instantly. I rerolled a storm sorcerer and the fight was considerably easier. I could probably have used dark magic with equal success.

Dead thrall is the one summoning skill I want, permanent like I have in Skyrim (I don't like temporary pets). Killing a mob and keeping it as a permanent zombie pet would make me choose summoning again. Making the storm atronach actually useful and last as long as it did in Skyrim (120 seconds) instead of just being a 15 second turret that briefly stuns upon summoning might make consider it again, depending.

The whole tree needs a total revamp.

you guys are playing it and going about it all wrong and quite honestly I am tired of people saying get rid of things, if you dont wanna play a certain spelline then dont play it but dont tell them to get rid of it, I for one love the summoner spell line I play as a nightblade assassin with the summoner spell line and guess what, my summons are awesome they add to my dps they look cool and I wish we had more of them the whole point of being able to play outside the box and not stick to cookie cutter builds is to........PLAY OUTSIDE THE BOX stop thinking like a purebreed and start thinking like a hybrid

I actually loved the summoner spel line for solo levelling, taking 4-5 mobs at once with dual summons was a blast. But for group content or pvp, lack of control over them is going to be a massive issue.

Did they buff the summons that they can tank that many mobs now? They couldn't when I used summoning. Anyway, 4-5 mobs with my lightning form worked too For multiple mobs I'd drop a lightning splash + rain of arrows, pop lightning form, charge in and watch everything die.

In PvP I was attacked by peoples' clannfears and they were like gnats trying to bite me. No damage done, never a threat, and I dispatched them all with ease. Summoning is not worth it for PvP, trust me.

The Daedric Summoning tree is exclusive to sorcerers, genius.

Prior to Skyrim, summonable creatures included, but were not limited to, demon dinosaurs, demon werecrocodiles, demon monkeys, dremora, xilvilai, liches, wraiths, skeletons, skeletal golem things, zombies, revenants and animals.

Honestly the only good thing about the summoning tree was the DoT.