This isn't complexity, it is an internal conflict in design. WoD had damage/survival both built into same ability which caused these issues. Before Blood Boil nerfs intention was to BB and generate Scent of blood charges with higher DMG per rune and get a huge/beefy Death Strike, I think this was a healthy design. After the nerfs, DS spam became the dominant approach in single target. Wanna know why? Because DS timing was only valid when you didn't have/had low amount of absorbs on you.
You are confusing clarity with simplicity. To be able to make a healthy but complex gameplay you need to provide players the headroom. WoD has 0 headroom. Literally 0. It forces you to press buttons, no choice, just following a meaningless clunky pattern.
Breath play is complex? Excuse me but please enlighten me what is so complex about pooling RP and Blood Charges with primary runes idle to have more RP on later? AMS soaking, woooooaaah soo muuuch chaallenge!
DK forums have base who cannot grasp the impact of being locked for 4-5 GCD to perform a single talent and overcapping your runic power in process, rendering the 1 rune benefit of given talent's to the ashes. They can keep assuming whether I am a troll or not to the end of the world.
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This isn't a tuning issue that we are talking here, it is the core approach to the spec mechanic