We are approaching a button bloat problem that can be solved

[Saimeren]

I don't like the combined 1-2-3 button.
Even in PvP I slot 3 of those combo buttons so I can still manually press the 1, 2 ,3 keys.

I'm perfectly fine with skills that have a second prog (Like RPR's Shroud abilities or the DRK's Salter Earth) to change into the second prog.
But leave the 1-2-3 rotations as they are.
I'd hate to press 1 single key over and over while other skills are still on cooldown.

My biggest concern with merging the basic combo into one button is the lack of choice when it comes to your attacks. Sure, you hit 1, 2, 3.

But often times the middle ability offers either a heal or MP or something.

In the case of the Paladin for example, if my team is struggling or half dead and I need to enter a survival mode, hitting 1, 2, 1, 2 over and over gives me a lot more extra MP that I can then use to heal myself. Once topped up I can go back to the standard rotation and start focusing on damage again until I need to heal and regen MP again.

Consolidating that combo into one button takes that option away entirely. Whether or not people think MP generation survival mode is dumb or cleverer is irrelevant. Simply talking away the option because you don't like pressing buttons isn't the best course of action.

[anhaato]

You think you want it...

[Packetdancer]

I don't like the combined 1-2-3 button.
Even in PvP I slot 3 of those combo buttons so I can still manually press the 1, 2 ,3 keys.

I mean, I'll admit that I share your general dislike of combos cycling through keys -- hitting three separate keys for the Gnashing Fang chain (with one oGCD between each) felt more satisfying to me than alternating one GCD and one oGCD on the same two keys three times -- since it basically feels like what I do as a healer main ANYWAY (hitting one button for my primary attack over and over and over and over and over). And for some jobs which have branching combo chains -- SAM and DRG in particular, but I feel like there might also be issues with PLD, NIN, etc. -- it obviously doesn't work.

But on the other hand, there are some jobs where I'm down to only one or two free spaces on a three-hotbar layout. And if the options are a choice between:

1. We get maybe one new action per expansion, otherwise just an upgrade of an existing action or two via a trait. (Which seems to be the current solution, at least when jobs don't get an overhaul.)
2. We get actions pruned entirely to make room for new ones, allowing new variety and play, but also making the jobs feel even more terrible whenever you're level-synced down. (Which has been done in the past, as you yourself acknowledge in a later post.)
3. We get existing action chains condensed down to a PvP-style combo button, thus making room for more new actions in a given expansion but also keeping existing ones. (And not further neutering the jobs at low levels.)

...I think I might actually prefer option 3. (Failing that, I pray they stick with option 1 rather than option 2.)

[Packetdancer]

just be a clicker like me 5head(unironically play savage doing this)

(I legit don't know how people can do that. Respect to those who can; I would not be one.)

[Ransu]

There is no button bloat. Stop trying to make the game boring.

[KuroMaboroshi]

(I legit don't know how people can do that. Respect to those who can; I would not be one.)

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

[Packetdancer]

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

[DezereDawn]

There is no button bloat. Stop trying to make the game boring.

Ast having 2 seperate draw and play cards disagrees

button bloat doesn't mean "too many buttons" it's "Buttons that really don't need to be seperate" and there are PLENTY of those in this game that could be consolidated to make way for more interesting abilities

if they just choose to remove them/lower them and add nothing to return, sure, your argument has merit

[anhaato]

123 is not button bloat you're just lazy

[Packetdancer]

123 is not button bloat you're just lazy

It's not button bloat, per se, but the game developers demonstrably want to keep the number of actions per job to a certain maximum number -- which honestly makes sense, given that the game needs to retain controller support -- and if the option is "remove actions to make space for new ones, leaving the job even more sparse at low levels", "don't make new actions in an expansion and just upgrade existing ones via trait", or "combine some actions into single actions that change based on combat state", I know I'd prefer the last option.

And there are plenty of examples where they can. For instance, it's not really necessary for Draw and Play to be two separate buttons for AST, as has been pointed out; you cannot Play unless you've used Draw to get a card, and there is almost no scenario in which you're going to deliberately want to Draw a new card when you already have one out. (After all, even a card that's not optimal is still a DPS gain if played on someone, so why throw it away?) If they need to make space for a new action on AST in the future, combining those two into one action (that turns into Play once you have a card out, and back into Draw once you've played the card) would be an excellent place to do so. Reaper's various states already do this sort of thing with a number of attacks, as does ninja with mudras when you hit Ten-Chi-Jin.

And SGE provides an interesting example of a different consolidation approach with Eukrasia; instead of a single-target DPS spell and a single-target DoT, plus raw and shielded single-target and AoE heals, Eukrasia just switches between the two modes. Thus, you put six potential actions onto four buttons: Dosis/E. Dosis, Diagnosis/E. Diagnosis, Prognosis/E. Prognosis, and Eukrasia itself.

I'd personally prefer the base 1-2-3 DPS sequences not be combined, for a variety of reasons (though would prefer it to actions being stripped out entirely to make room for new ones); as noted above, I don't find the new combo'd Gnashing Fang chain nearly as satisfying on Gunbreaker, and it would be even more annoying with the primary DPS rotation. I'm a healer main, I already get enough "hit one button repeatedly for DPS" from that, thanks.

But most jobs still have at least some things that could be combined a'la Draw and Play, if there's a need to free up action space for new actions in the future.