I think we've got it right. It removes the need for precise shot which takes on larger significance now that every ranged attacker is an archer while leaving the defender free to defend his allies from enemy fire.
The examples of play provided by various people have repeatedly shown that this isn't the case. Positioning, quantity and types of foes and a host of externalities determine what is optimal on a given round. The one exception may be the ranger and that very well could have been due to a typo...
That's at least 4 unique attacks per encounter. That's significant, especially when you factor in potential dailies, additional at wills and utility spells.
The Quickstart sheet explicitly stated that the At-Will abilities are the default. The basic attack is the exception. What does that...
I'd think that the Malazan stuff is one of the few series that's actually modeled better by the Vancian system. Quick Ben spends half of every battle 'spent'.
Yes, standard can be decomposed into a move which can be turned into a minor. So you could actually do 3 minor actions in a round(4 with an action point). However, lay on hands is only once per round.