Job action combos one button

[Shurrikhan]

as for what I want from bloat removal from current state, I just want them to stack the skills that only increases potency with each combo.

That seems an odd limit to set. It'd account for almost nothing. Technically, it'd only even amount to Aeolian Edge, as Full Thrust (+2) ultimately procs Draconian Fire, Storm's Path generates gauge, Royal Authority procs Sword Oath (the Atonement casts from which can be split off), etc.

And that will be the day I quit playing this game.

And, in turn, "more [not solely, just more] of a given expansion's added capacities and functions to be granted via passives (specifically not merely potency-increasing traits, as mentioned on prior pages)," as opposed to being given through ability pruning and recycling, is where you draw the line?

There is no version where you get more buttons of actions and retain a given button count cap (as the devs themselves have said constrains them) without pruning or consolidating. Given that, Hagare is right that consolidation may be necessary if we are to avoid losing further key abilities and further squelching the leveling experience. One might even, quite reasonably, say that being anti-consolidation without expecting further actions or specifically contesting the devs in regard to button count caps will generally be, in effect, pro-pruning.