I love playing summoners.   I particularly like it when most of my character's time is not spent actually attacking, but rather summoning/buffing/ordering minions, like a tactical general on the move.    I loved the necro from D2 and I'm wondering if a similar playstyle exists in one of the MMOs.

City of heroes IMO mastermind is amazing.

City of Hero's Masterminds definently.

Most just ignore the few very weak attack powers they get and focus on coordinating and supporting their pets in a fight with buffs/debuffs.

Haven't found an MMORPG which approaches the Necro's "general of an army" playstyle.  Masterminds (CoX) are probably closest, as people have suggested, but even they don't really feel as unique as the Necro did.

Ragnarok Online's Alchemist was probably my favorite class of this type.  What makes it unique is that they allowed the player to make the AI for the pet which allows it to do more then in other pet retainer classes.  I have not really seen any game do multiple summons well.  I also find the gameplay surrounding the class pretty tame an unimaginitive compared to pen and paper counterparts.

The necromancer from AoC is my favorite summoner class so far.  The various minions you can summon fit different situations, such as a zerg of 8 zombies that can be buffed by the tempest of set's lightning shield and roam around zapping groups of mobs, to the 2 high level caster mobs that nuke from a distance.  The variety and strategy was entertaining and it was my overall favorite caster from AoC, as well as my favorite summoner from any game to date.

Originally posted by ArcheAge
Vanguard Necro.

I play one, but yet I would like to know why you think thats the best one ?

Hmm its a tie between AoC Necro and DAoC's Bonedancer. If i am gonna play a summoning class i want there to be a small force of summoned creatures not just a single pet/familliar.

I loved the Bonedancer from DAoC but too bad that game is so deserted right now. 

This isn't a super informed reply, but I love the Ritualist/Spirit Spammer from Guild Wars... see profile picture.

I haven't really tried a whole lot of summoner classes in the other MMO's I've played. -shrug-

Try Mastermind City of Villains but take the ninja or zombies because you have to micromanage the pets and that makes playing them quite challenging especially in groups. I had  the shield secondary making my life quite hellish in groups.

Only summoner class I ever played in an MMO was in FFXI. It was pretty great to be honest. The coolest part was having to go around and defeat all your avatars before being able to control them. The downside being the class was not utilized in the correct way during leveling and really the only beneficial time for them was during endgame. It was mostly used as a healing class without ever really using your summons. During endgame it was great to have around especially in situation where massive aoe damage is needed.

Plus summoner burns in korroloka tunnel were awesome.

Lineage 2

3 types of Somoners

Human, Dark Elf, Light Elf.

at lvl 85+ in the next update they get a good boost.

Games that I've played that have summoners in them that I've enjoyed are AOC and EQ2. As mentioned previously in AOC you can summon a pretty good size small army of undead. In EQ2 you do get one pet but they work very well for soloing or you can switch out pets for dps in groups. Lotta fun imo =)

Hands down Final Fantasy XI has the best summoning system, even if you have an issue with it, summoning classic avatars from all around the FF universe... :Q....... 

I have recently been playing the BETA for Bounty Hounds online, and I am quite impressed with the pet system in that game, it is a pokemon mix (multiple pets) and you can upgrade them as well, and each pet has different paths it can evolve. I also really enjoyed the customization of it, the game is still in closed beta but I play on the Suba Games version.

I would say a tie between COH/COV Mastermind, WOW's Warlock, and Aion's Spiritmaster.

***Raises plunger in salute to Rift's rifting events!***

Guild Wars Necromancer.

Originally posted by ninjalady

Lineage 2

3 types of Somoners

Human, Dark Elf, Light Elf.

at lvl 85+ in the next update they get a good boost.

Well, I definitely can say I never touched L2 summoners for a simple reason: they depend upon input of a rare ressource that is costy to obtain and impossible to farm, unless you make a Warsmith first.

I tried Necromancer on one of these high xp fan servers once and was surprised how powerful they are as a class. But even then I didnt bothered to summon the pet. Well ok for Necros its just increased HP and not much else.

Also, I am unaware that L2 would ever have been able to control more than one creature.

The VG Necromancer can, but their control is not exactly super complex and any but the main pet are only temporary.

I have to +1 city of heroes pets. 

Some will need extreme amounts of micro-ing (ninjas, zombies) while others are just basically "let them run through stuff" like robots n stuff. 

If youre into micro-ing your summons, then definitely try ninjas.  It gets very very micro-heavy in groups. o.o

Originally posted by ArcheAge
Vanguard Necro.

While I really love the way they did the Necromancer in Vanguard, I am still puzzled why you wrote this.

The VG Nec has not much in common with the D2 Nec ?

They definitely dont spend their time commanding their minions.