Hotkey Bloat

[Vyrerus]

It's been a while since I played Dancer, but I'd say the reason they can't and shouldn't consolidate the procs is due to the nature of combos. I can't actually recall if Dancer combos are interrupted if you use the proc immediately, but if they are, then the order of using the skills has to be Combo > Proc. If they consolidate the buttons, this doesn't allow you to save procs(and also means they have to set each combo to also combo off the proc skill), and later on you will get a skill that causes you to gain every proc simultaneously, allowing you to do your highest damage GCDs outside of steps back to back in any order.

[Rosenstrauch]

I can't actually recall if Dancer combos are interrupted if you use the proc immediately, but if they are, then the order of using the skills has to be Combo > Proc.

The Dancer combo is only interrupted if you start the opposite combo, ie switching from the ranged combo to melee, or melee combo to ranged. Your procs don't interrupt your combo, and neither does Saber Dance.

That said, while there might not be no downside to dropping the weaponskill procs, shoving Fan Dance III into Fan Dance I+II's button would be a bad idea. The reason being that while Fan Dance I and II have a shared cooldown, Fan Dance III does not. If Fan Dance III replaced I+II when it procced, it would also have to go on cooldown at the same time, making it harder to double weave.

Also, considering how tight Dancer's burst phase can be, there may not be any benefit to actually doing this. It's not as if freeing up 4-5 hotkeys will necessarily free up space in your rotation for brand new weaponskills or abilities, since Dancer wants to save their Esprit Gauge and Fan Dance stacks for Technical Step.

[Rongway]

That said, while there might not be no downside to dropping the weaponskill procs, shoving Fan Dance III into Fan Dance I+II's button would be a bad idea. The reason being that while Fan Dance I and II have a shared cooldown, Fan Dance III does not. If Fan Dance III replaced I+II when it procced, it would also have to go on cooldown at the same time, making it harder to double weave.

This much is not a problem, actually. Actions that share a button need not have the same cooldown. See: Nastrond and Gierskogul

[Rongway]

It's been a while since I played Dancer, but I'd say the reason they can't and shouldn't consolidate the procs is due to the nature of combos. I can't actually recall if Dancer combos are interrupted if you use the proc immediately, but if they are, then the order of using the skills has to be Combo > Proc. If they consolidate the buttons, this doesn't allow you to save procs(and also means they have to set each combo to also combo off the proc skill), and later on you will get a skill that causes you to gain every proc simultaneously, allowing you to do your highest damage GCDs outside of steps back to back in any order.

Procs do not interrupt combos, so you could, for example, do something like this:

Cascade (no proc) > Fountain (proc Fountainfall) > Cascade (proc Reverse Cascade) > Reverse Cascade > Fountainfall > Fountain (proc Fountainfall)

which in terms of buttons looks something like this:



Here's what that same sequence would look like with button consolidation (excuse the numbers):


Knowing the devs, I'd wager they think this looks confusing and consequently consciously chose not to consolidate these buttons. I'm especially inclined to believe this once you take into account Flourish, which instantly procs all flourishes. In the unconsolidated version, it's much easier to tell whether or not you have any procs that will be wasted because there's a clear difference between dimmed buttons and active dashed outlined butons. In the consolidated version, you have to exert more cognitive effort because there are never dimmed buttons. Is the second dashed outlined button a proc or just the base second step in the combo? It would take longer to learn how to screen for Flourish with that system.

[Seraphor]

Procs do not interrupt combos, so you could, for example, do something like this:

Cascade (no proc) > Fountain (proc Fountainfall) > Cascade (proc Reverse Cascade) > Reverse Cascade > Fountainfall > Fountain (proc Fountainfall)

which in terms of buttons looks something like this:



Here's what that same sequence would look like with button consolidation (excuse the numbers):


Knowing the devs, I'd wager they think this looks confusing and consequently consciously chose not to consolidate these buttons. I'm especially inclined to believe this once you take into account Flourish, which instantly procs all flourishes. In the unconsolidated version, it's much easier to tell whether or not you have any procs that will be wasted because there's a clear difference between dimmed buttons and active dashed outlined butons. In the consolidated version, you have to exert more cognitive effort because there are never dimmed buttons. Is the second dashed outlined button a proc or just the base second step in the combo? It would take longer to learn how to screen for Flourish with that system.

And how would they transform into the four dance steps?

Dancer is already one of the jobs with the fewest buttons, and already consolidates four of it's skills into other buttons.

[Tint]

And how would they transform into the four dance steps?

They could just consolidate the dance steps into 1 button I guess..?

[Rosenstrauch]

And how would they transform into the four dance steps?

Well, Dancer would still have four buttons for weaponskills at the level they gain access to Standard Step and Technical Step: Two single target, and two aoe. It wouldn't be ridiculous to have the aoe buttons turn into Dance steps in place of the missing single target proc buttons.