I honestly don't think combo merging (when applicable, e.g. not a branching combo) is a bad thing. People often brand it as 'dumbing down', but 1-1-1 isn't much less mentally challenging than 1-2-3.

Monk's combo is decision making. You need to gauge timers to see if you should branch or not - now that's the perfect justified 1-2-3 that actually have your brain and awareness working.