> the poweruser toolbar style
These can be great for discovery. But one must-have for me is a unique keyboard shortcut assigned to each button on the toolbar. Because if I use a feature often, I would 1000x rather use the keyboard to invoke it than have to drag a mouse to click a button.
Yes, I think the good comparison here is games with keyboard shortcuts + graphical interface. The interface helps with discovery, but it's complemented by the need for speed through shortcuts.
We see this playing a role in things like tool selection, ie setting up shortcuts similar to gaming macros for quick selections.