I don't remember these abilities working this way, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of them returned. (Phalanx wasn't automatic, but was instead a strong block-procced global; Fire Lotus was just fire damage, no heal involved.) Further examples: Spinstroke(increased AP against targets not attacking you), old-style Riot Blade (ranged pacify), old-style Rage of Halone (increased AP based on damage taken very recently / during animation - longer back then, ofc), Howling Vortex (slows enemy casts and wind damage added), Circle Blade (360-degree AoE physical, no DoT), Luminous Spire (reduced enemy magic defense), and Obsess (increase defense vs. one target, reduced defense versus all others).
To me, Spinstroke feels rather Gladiator- and Snap-Tank- ish, though I don't know how well it would fit in; Howling and Fire probably have no place, but a slow would be nice in some form. A TP AoE wouldn't be horrible, and a magic-defense debuff (possibly at cost of MP, and dealing additional damage, though no bonus 'effect', when comboed off of Riot Blade) would be useful additions as well, but, we only have so many spaces on our hotbars.
The main things I'd be looking for with Gladiator is to make it feel like the shield is a more active component of our move set, that we have more opportunistic dps capability and coordinated offense, quicker snap-tanking options, and that cross-class moves feel a bit more useful. (This is largely because I'd like to eventually seen class viability, and Gladiator is one of my personal favorites in terms of what potential I see in the class to have some fun, albeit potentially mild, differences from the job.) I'd also like to see a bit more AoE dps, likely through the inclusion of a procced Circle Blade-like (dynamic) attack [on proc, one ability changes name and gains bonus effects, while still remaining a combo'ed move and fulfilling its previous uses]. As with Marauder, I'd like to see many of the slashing attacks deal very slight cleave damage in addition to their base effects, at least on procs and perhaps with slight modification to the original animation, as their animations appear to do.
I'd like Paladin, going further, to have some very real support, in terms of both preventative healing and physical coverage. If it were ever possible to program, one thing I'd very much like to see, as a matter of opening new paths for tanking more than anything else, is an passive trait like Fringeward, wherein you will automatically reduce the damage of most attacks to allies behind you (your hitbox intercepting the line of attack or AoE-expansion). Atop this I'd like to see many attacks that would normally be mere AAs despite their massive animations (i.e Dullahan attacks) be cleaves of a sort, in keeping with their animations, dealing higher damage to the target itself in comparison to others within the cleave, but allowing all mitigation done from each sequential victim to stack with following victims' mitigation as it sweeps across them from one side to the other.
For Marauder/Warrior, I would like to see an increased rate of attack, especially in terms of Wrath gain, but I would rather not increase the gap in MT dps, and neither do I want to inflate tank dps generally in order to make up for it. I'd like for them to have more viable AoE options than just Overpower and Steel Cyclone, and would like for these options to be neither strictly ST or AoE, themselves. I think that Warrior AoE dps should be nearly DPS-role comparable (potentially outbursting some true DPS classes - they wield a greataxe after all, a choice weapon for cleaving, especially among our current choices), and would like to raise Gladiator/Paladin AoE dps some as not to merely be flash-statues in large pulls, but I do not want either to be especially favored in ST dps or mitigation. (Ideally, Paladin would fall a bit short in dps but only so far as can be made up via healer dps by the ease of healing given by its healing/shielding support functions, without making it significantly better at, and far from necessary for, personal mitigation.) I would also like to see Inner Beast returned to real use in lower content, rather than its minute current heal still often restoring more health than the mitigation protects. I'd like it to the greater effect in either case, and I have no qualms with a Warrior being potentially able to no-heal content it far outgears.