Wrong. Cover still targetted a particular member. That member had to hide behind you to get anything out of it however. I've used it recently in FFXI, so yes I know what I'm talking about.
As for the main idea of the topic:
My only issue with Cover is that it's physical only. But it logically makes sense, since thematically it's you jumping in the way and deflecting a blow using your shield (thus the shield imagery on the icon). It would just be incredibly disruptive to animate that and forcing someone to stand in the cleave zone to get the benefit of it would be counter intuitive at best.
Plus I've used Cover more than a fair amount to save someone under attack before. I don't like the idea of losing my ability to put a protective shell over a particularly overzealous DPS.
