A popularity poll on Player's favorite Classes taken on November 01, 2020.
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I mean, that's certainly an opinion you can have, but the evidence just doesn't support it. Keep in mind, the Journey's End update wasn't officially released until May 16th, 2020 [four months prior]. Here's another
less popular opinion poll on Player's favorite Classes in January of 2020 that's pretty much
evenly split. People have always loved Summoner as thier Main to differing degrees~ throughout its lifetime; the 1.4.1 update was released on October 13th, 2020 [about a month prior] and only added a handful of Summoner-
exclusive items [
source].
It's important to note though, that Terraria was a
somewhat "incomplete videogame overall"~ in many different aspects during 1.3.5, Summoner Class
wasn't even close to being the biggest offender. Most would agree that 1.4 to 1.4.1 Summoner Class was likely at its best, especially according to the evidence that exists outside of this newer, "Prevailing Narrative". If anything, the Class just needed to be refined and balanced more, according to the general 1.4.1 opinion.
This
new narrative about Summoner needing more help and more stuff is pretty bogus and is an example of the "never-ending cycle of Player greed" that I often bring up.
I still disagree, time-sink, effort and playstyle, don't account for Class potential [that's a meta discussion]. "I can beat the game faster than you as X-Class" is a preferred style of play, it has no reflection on whether or not said Player enjoyed their experience playing, or if the methods in which they used are universally applicable [i.e. speed-runners]. At its most basic level, Summoner Class will always be on top, because
Minions [with improved AI], in 1.4.4.9, Minions are some of the best survivability tools available.
Also, like I said earlier, Township isn't just "Player expression" anymore, it counts toward Player progression now. Any time you take to set-up-shop pre-Hardmode, will pay
dividends in early to mid-Hardmode, so it actually
does become a "meta discussion" [and we already went over what that means, Food, Potions, Buffs, etc].