Between the attacks we used before AA and many others from several classes you can keep yourself occupied enough to where AA just fills in the gaps between WS's. If you base your combat around more than just one attack you can be much more efficient than you were before AA. At first i was against AA but the more i thought about it I would have more opportunity to cycle through action bars planning my next move while still gaining TP. Not to mention you can get get yourself out of some dangerous situations being able to pop abilities and not have to wonder if you have enough stamina.

AA may feel slow to people but just think of what possibilities that brings. Enhancer classes, haste spells/gear, multiple attack weapons, all the things that make you feel powerful. Personally i wasn't a haste fanatic like most people were on XI so i would prefer this game to be focused more around weapons with multiple attacks. Many options out there to speed us up. Maybe SE will come up with something new and innovative. "SE did that before and look where we are now".. shut up, no inventions were made without a few failures first.

This battle system isn't going anywhere so its best to just figure out how to make it work for you. Be creative!