Well, this is a difficult comparison because I think we are at odds philosophically with regards to PoE, because to me the skills in those games were pretty fun and the combat was compelling and I enjoy diving into that stuff. As such, the crunchiness of D&D satisfies me quite a bit.
But looking at what you describe as likes and dislikes, I’d be remiss if I told you Pathfinder is going to have a ton of amazing combat skills and options at every turn. I mean, a basic Barbarian can Rage and then swings her sword like a pro, but she’ll Rage automatically for you* and select a target and she’s off to the races. Other than selecting a target, you aren’t doing anything with her. Fighters don’t even have Rage though they do have some tricks if you spec them towards said tricks, like trip attacks. I suppose Barbarians can get access to trip attacks as well, they are just feats anyone that meets the requirements can pick up. Are trip attacks in this? I think they are, actually, but I don’t know for sure. Most fighters are just tanks** and what you are looking for with lots of abilities and skills are actually spell casters, maybe a mid-level Ranger or Paladin with spells and some neat options. You could play as a Magus, they have quite a few tricks up their sleeve but can be hard to build out correctly/well and a very micro-intensive.
I recorded a video a few posts up this last weekend and there is some combat in there in the second half, if you want to take a look at some examples of early game combat.
*This reminds me, there is SOME AI going on here, to bring comments from the AMA together and folks such as @stusser being a little bummed about a lack of AI management, because I know for a fact the barbarian drops Rage at the start of combat without me doing it, and maybe other examples as well I wasn’t paying attention to?
**PoE and PoE2 has a neat system of making melee opponents that break from you feel the pain with a Disengagement attack, which has a higher chance to hi/crit. D&D has an “attack of opportunity” but it’s just a regular attack, so it’s harder in Pathfinder to protect your weaker back row characters from charging enemies. Just a heads up. Though, in D&D/Pathfinder you can draw an attack of opportunity from an enemy simply by being in melee range with them when you drink a potion, or fire a ranged weapon, so there are more off-turn attacks being made in that way.