Let me explain: When it comes to summoners, I view them as a mini-army unto themselves. I like that feeling of having minions at my disposal, taking hits and doing damage for me while I sit in back, acting as their healer/buffer. Literally a mini-party that I control. Bringing in the chocobo added to that, and it felt perfect.
Coincidentally, I'm probably the only person that regularly ran the Squadron dungeons for fun.
Understandably, summoners of that sort are an absolute pain to balance in MMOs. And unfortunately for literally just me, that means that both of the games I played with my preferred summoner type changed them to be more straight casters, which is boring and bland to me. Now it just feels like I'm playing a black mage with extra steps.