Controllers, hotbars, cycling... Worried for the future

[TaranTatsuuchi]

The problem is that controllers were never originally designed to play mmo's. That was the domain of PC/Keyboard.
Now before people start thinking this is a controller bashing post - it's not. It's just how game hardware has evolved over the years.

So when SE make a traditional multi-bar mmo, which is no problem for PC players, the origins of the controller game play come to the fore.

Other mmo game companies don't take the controller beyond it's possible limitations - simply by calling themselves an 'action' mmo, (whatever that means) and just having 7 or so skills active at any one time.

SE have tried to accommodate both - the 'as many bars as you like' pc players, together with the 'we are keyboardless'

And may possibly run into problems.

To be fair, they've done a damn good job with the controller options they provide.

[Teraluna]

To be fair, they've done a damn good job with the controller options they provide.

They have.
The OP's concern is reaching the limit of it's capability v any new skills/cycling mechanics that come along.
As a pc player I share that concern
Not in regard to the capability of the keyboard - but for this: just how many skills does a class need to make it interesting?
For example 5 x hotbars full of marginally different skills wouldn't be it.
Quality over quantity any day.

[Mycow8me]

just how many skills does a class need to make it interesting?.

This is a pretty important statement IMHO. I have alot of fun on my chars already, having new skills added sounds important at first since your character is progressing but there are other ways to go about it and still have something new to look forward to. Alot of ideas have been mentioned already... traits, enhance current skills, new skill animations and FX, or even empowering combos with temporary buffs/debuffs>mobs.

I myself would be ok with 1 or 2 new skills but thinking progressively, if this game gets up to the lvl 99 range similar to ffxi (with gear ilvl somewhere over 9000, lol no really though) how many skills will we have by then and is it necessary to have that many? Will our job be any more fun with a bunch more skills to use? The more skills we receive the higher the curve for player skill will need to be in order to be "gud" and fully utilize every class's skills. It will create a larger gap between highly skilled players and the people who are atleast trying their best.