I believe and i hope, that the player will be able to toggle auto attack on and off. I think this is the best way to do it IMHO. The game at its current state with no auto attack is great for careful strategic fighting. However, it DOES need auto attack for lazy easy fights, or certain DD that needs to keep his regular hits while managing other actions.

Basically, if they make it either this or that. It wouldn't be perfect, at least for me.