4 Melee bars (mai primary, 2-handed mace bar, a CC bar, a 1-handed slashign bar, and a 2-handed axe bar, all of which have various specialized stanzas and redundant powers and such
)
3 Magic bars (1 heal (usually, though sometimes I'll use a second if i'm doing solo-heal work for a big team) 1 nuke (i'm not sure why i even have this) and 1 affliction bar).
1 Ranged bar, should you care
The only thing I might point out for interest is what i do with mai CC bar. Unlike most CC wielders, I wield a dagger and heavy shield, primarily for maximum protection. This also means that mai Action Mallus is outrageous (roughtly 200 if i remember correctly in full heavy armor). Thus, mai bar is designed with one thing in mind: Tanking.
I ONLY use a dagger with 50+ hpm, which is the real key to the system, b/c so far that I've found, regardless of lvl, you still have roughtly a 5% chance (sound familure to crafting?!?!) of hitting a mob, and keeping a high HPM ballances out that CC is WAY below mai primary, and often the party in general. So while I still don't hit as much, i attack atleast twice as often as any two-handed meleer or Nuker ever can, and can almost always get atleast one hit in.
This system also generates outrageous aggro. Even if you don't hit it much, apparently swinging something in a mobs face that often kinda ticks it off, and without taunt I can EASILY pull things off someone who's hitting every time for 700+ damage with a 2-handed weapon.
The one thing to keep in mind is this strategy just flat-out doesn't work solo, b/c it sacrifices damage 400 times over for tanking duty. Set up your stanza's to make maximum useage of crits, dodge, and parry, while using as little of your stats as possible (since you're not doing damage, it's up to the mages, and that's where most of the heals should go). With CC, I simply dont' use HP credit, with the mallus and HPM, you kill yourself much more than a mob, and besides, while you may be able to ballance it with HP regen, it's better to use the HP regen vs the mob damage. Use stamina spareingly, ideally the healer shouldn't have to heal your stamina EVER. It's a melee's job to manage their stats efficiently, the heal only needs to keep the tank up, not worry about their INC DMG.
All in all, I think keeping in mind the exact role you have in a party, or solo, is the best way to set up an action bar, and play an effective part of a team. Just as it isn't always the best idea to use up all your HP or Stamina as a tank, a nuker doesn't have to only use range HP and Sap credit, or a healer for that matter. Time credits work, especially with fast amps. I'm only lvl 165 heal, but I can use power 140 spells for FREE (IE: no HP or Sap cost, and they're not THAT slow), and I've also solo-healed on a number of occations for a group of 6 vs the Wyac and Lobin in the Upperbog, just by having all the mages (we had 1 tank in light armor) use appropriate time credit, without ever having to be healed by another party member.
I'm not a master by any means, just thought some of you out there might appreciate mai 2 cents
good to see some things never change 