Does FF14 have a button bloat problem?

[Shurrikhan]

First of all, you don't HAVE to. Bootshine is going to crit regardless as long as you're at the rear. Leaden just boosts it, there's also the opportunity costs of going the lower dps buffing route again vs just doing 2 rear combos.

No, you are obliged to make use of the mechanic.

Now, could that mechanic as easily be handled as by a simple Bootshine upgrades to Dragon Kick which, after granting Leaden Fist, then upgrades again to Leaden Fist (as a skill), reducing button count while changing absolutely nothing about how MNK plays? Sadly, yes.

It's almost like things could be tweaked a bit.

That said, if even the rare case scenarios by which to see nuance from MNK, of all jobs, has to be trimmed to make something work in terms of button-mapping, that should be a huge red flag and we should promptly go in the opposite direction (to make that available nuance real, rather than feigned or excessively shallow -- and thereby bloat).