Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
I don't think that's likely; I think the devs would be plenty willing to leave those then-optional buttons unfilled and would more likely just literally lock out combo steps you haven't yet reached as to level the playing field between those using and not using consolidated combos (with the only difference then being whether one sacrifices handy tactile cues to concentrate their bindings down to a more comfortable space). But, if I had to guess, that'd be the main reason for hesitation.
I don't think the game's well-architected to support having both the combo'd actions and individual ones. You can kind of get around it by just binding the combo on multiple buttons, but it's not quite the same (especially since you then just have multiple buttons you can mash).

And all sarcasm aside, I did genuinely find the old Gunbreaker burst combo more enjoyable; I had Gnashing Fang on 7, Savage Claw on 8, and Wicked Talon on 9, and Continuation on Shift-4. Now, I'll note that I do 7+ on my MMO mouse side buttons, and 1-5 on keyboard (and generally try to avoid using 6 for anything common, because it's an uncomfortable reach), so it was <mouse button A> + Shift-4, <mouse button B> + Shift-4, <mouse button C> + Shift 4 -- and I found that a deeply satisfying sequence every time I got to do it.

Now it's just <mouse button A> + shift-4, repeated three times, and I couldn't tell you why that's slightly less satisfying on a pure dopamine level... but it is. Dumb as that feels to say.

(Well, okay, I mean, that's not the case in the opener, where you mix in stuff slightly in a different order, but you get my meaning nonetheless.)

But I do agree that if the combo tree does not branch, there's really no reason to put them all on separate buttons. I just wish more of the combo chains did branch, so it was like... 1 followed by 2 (and then 3) or 4 (and then 5, and then 6), etc. Like with SAM and such.