No AoE on low levels feels kinda dumb.

[Tulshe]

That's in general not a real issue. Good use of button substitutions and autoupgrades will keep the number of hotbar actions down. There are just a few missed cases that they need to address (most of them in BLM and SAM).

AoEs, for example, could be given earlier as weaker less flashy versions, then upgraded to better ones later, which would solve the problem of lack of low level AoE attacks without adding any additional buttons or taking away actions that would be learned later.

Then the skill upgrade won't feel meaningful if it's just the potency increase and no additional effect on top. It will feel the same as all empty level-ups at odd levels.