Why can't we just have combo chains?

[Maeka]

I say make it a option not force every job to utilize it. I personally would never use it and it wouldn’t work for some jobs but to spit in the face of versatility is a crime. And even if it’s anemic it would make some jobs very boring and the games doing a fine job at that with as is reduced difficulty

I can't really think of any jobs it WOULD work for, really. I mean... even if you take, say, PLD, you'd be turning 4 buttons into 2. Wooo. You'd be going 1-1-1 or 2-2-2. Is it really THAT hard to do 1-2-3 or 1-2-4?

Let's see here... MCH only has one combo so you'd save a whopping 2 buttons, woo. DRG would be a nightmare to do properly, as would MNK, fact is MNK would be even worse because of how their stance system works with their combos, where you have 1 three-button combo, but each button has 2 different choices depending on what you need at any given time.

And Ninja, again, just like MCH, Ninja only has 2 3 button combos, and a whole load of oGCDs that wouldn't be helped whatsoever by the proposed system. BRD wouldn't even see any benefit, DNC... I don't think you'd want to do this, because of how their procs work. And I suppose there's a single combo for RDM.

I just........don't see the need in it.

The two jobs that do have lots of combos and combo abilities are the two jobs that this would be terrible for.

[Shurrikhan]

I can't really think of any jobs it WOULD work for, really. I mean... even if you take, say, PLD, you'd be turning 4 buttons into 2.

5, technically. At present, Atonement acts only as part of the RA combo.

fact is MNK would be even worse

That exact subject has its own variety of beaten-horse dust at this point. It'd require PB not to be a Leaden Fist bot, but apart from that Monk can handle all Form-based weaponskills within 3 keys without issue.

DNC... I don't think you'd want to do this, because of how their procs work.

It actually makes little difference for them save for when luck allows you to time procs to raid buffs for added damage. Without funneling damage into buffs, which is largely out of your control anyways by nature of RNG, it would cost no sustained DPS to use just 1 ST and 1 AoE button for all 8 of DNC's weaponskills -- or, if you still wanted the same rarely-influential freedom, 2 buttons for ST and 2 for AoE.

The two jobs that do have lots of combos and combo abilities are the two jobs that this would be terrible for.

That said, I agree with your overall conclusion. The most combo-based jobs would finally show how little complexity, in terms of action-flow, they actually have, while those with only a thumb's depth more complexity in that flow (e.g. RDM) would keep the same bloated button-count as before, leaving an awkward gulf between their apparent designs.

Above all, if the idea is to remove combo-based button-bloat, then we shouldn't just leave n-1 combo skills unusable at any given time as we have before, even if that means fundamentally changing how combos works. If DRG has two combos, it should have access to two weaponskill buttons... at all times. Pressing [1] once should not lock you into pressing [1] four more times before effectively locking you into [2] for your next five globals. You ought to be able to choose, from balanced or at least situationally-useful choices, between [1] and [2] in every given GCD.

:: Again, though, this hardly matters to me, as I'd rather see the same number of buttons we have now, but with each action able to be used, situationally or macrorotationally, on its own, such that they form synergetic combinations from individually powerful tools rather than rigid sequences that merely increasingly deepen button-bloat.

[WigglesTheWiggly]

BRD wouldn't even see any benefit, DNC... I don't think you'd want to do this, because of how their procs work. And I suppose there's a single combo for RDM.

Just like how the Machinists 1-2-3 combo and Spreadshot in PvP turn into Heatblast and Auto-Crossbow when Hypercharge is activated, the bard could actually benefit from adaptive slots. For example, Heavy Shot automatically turning into Straight Shot when proc'd or Wanderer's Minuet Turning into Pitch Perfect. You can already achieve this to a lesser extent with adaptive macros and though I wouldn't really call them much of combos, they'd save 2 keybinds and cut down on finger acrobatics a smidgen.

Really this goes for any skill that has some direct interaction with another.