I'm mostly optimistic about this. This is an action RPG and not an action game with RPG elements in my opinion. To me this means that choices as far as skill development and spell usage should be more important than ability to manually aim.

For targeted spells, a large emphasis on aiming turns it into a glorified FPS, while too much emphasis on action oriented aiming/moves risks turning fighting into a generic hack and slash ordeal. Several people have brought up the Mass Effect games and that is a very good example. Yes it has many FPS elements. To an outside observer it might look like a FPS game. When you play it, however, the emphasis is more on battle strategy than any FPS aiming skill. At any time with no penalty you can pause the Mass Effect games to re-aim, hand out commands to your team mates, or queue an ability (works like a spell) to use. These things are totally optional in ME and ME2 as well. You can use hotkeys and never pause mid battle if you want to as well, but they are there to prevent the game from being too focused on FPS elements for RPG fans.

I like options, so if this kind of thing can be turned off for people that don't like it that makes sense. I fully disagree that it's "dumbing down" though. It's an RPG at its core after all.