How many skills is too many?

[Vhailor]

It's never a choice.

Anyway, more than 10 is too much.

GW2 has the best system for this kind of combat. One auto attack spell and the rest are cooldowns. Change stance/weapon and you get different spells.

GW2 is a distinctly different game. Its depth of combat comes from skills paired with constant movement; FFXIV doesn't have this attribute. If we had only 10 abilities in FFXIV, the game would be incredibly boring.

Back to FFXIV, I don't understand why we need to bind all those skills. For example, Chaos Thrust and True Thrust combos could've been 2 buttons instead of 6. Cleric Stance could change our hotbar to be a DPS one, since we won't be healing when it's active, and won't be DPSing when it's not.

Chaos Thrust and True Thrust, as combos, would be boring and devoid of any semblance of skill. That's why they aren't two buttons. Lengthening the combo requires players to maintain proper positioning whilst dodging ground AoE attacks and engaging attacks; a single button for a combo would either not involve this balancing act, or would be too rigid.

Cleric's Stance also can't just 'change our hotbar' because sometimes, WHMs DO heal whilst in Cleric's Stance. It's not ideal, but every so often, something bad happens right after Cleric's Stance is brought up. At that point, it's better to toss off a weak heal than none at all (or Benediction if need be).

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As to the OP's question, I think there are 'too many' skills if certain abilities become effectively ignored for the sake of button management. The exact number varies based on the game system. FFXI, for instance, could handle far more abilities than FFXIV because its combat was slower-paced, thereby improving the ability management side of things. GW2, being so active with regards to movement, can't handle as many abilities as FFXIV can. For XIV itself, I'd peg the number of manageable skills at around 45-50. If it starts approaching 60, I think that will be 'too much'.