Four Ways to Die - why the Tank Meta feels "off".

[Deezee]

Tanks are not ignoring their active mitigation in the meta. Show me any parse where tanks are clearing content and not using shadowskin, shadow wall, rampart, sentinel, hallowed ground, living dead, vengeance...

"More damage" might just make it so you're locked into tank stances for an entire fight (nullifying everything the expansion gave WARs, for instance, outside of Equilibrium) but it wouldn't change optimal play which focuses on how to most effectively use your GCDs, and all tank GCDs currently deal damage. There'd still be the VIT/STR trade off analysis because of this and so on.

Tuning fights so that you can be suboptimal and clear won't change how to optimally play, either ("I can stack passive mitigation and sit in tank stance and not care about anything else"); it'll just let suboptimal players clear without having to be concerned with improving their performance given the game's design.

To realistically impact the meta you must change the way tank GCDs work, full stop.

[Alahra]

"More damage" might just make it so you're locked into tank stances for an entire fight (nullifying everything the expansion gave WARs, for instance, outside of Equilibrium)

The DPS stances are intended first for off-tanking (and soloing), so they would still have a purpose.

[Deezee]

The DPS stances are intended first for off-tanking (and soloing), so they would still have a purpose.

What content are you soloing once you're done with MSQ/at level cap?

This would just also even more firmly cement WARs as the kings of OTing and further take a dump on DRK/PLD comps.

::EDIT:: And if "DPS stances were intended for soloing" then why is it you don't unlock the WAR dps stance until 50, when you had 20 previous levels of content to "solo" through without it?

[Alahra]

What content are you soloing once you're done with MSQ/at level cap?

Part of the game is leveling and it always has been, and part of the function of DPS modes to non-DPS classes (normally, tanks and healers) is to provide for better solo play when tanking/healing focus aren't nearly as useful. It is not their sole purpose at all, but part of their whole function. Treasure Maps and weekly/daily hunts are both relevant solo content at 60, too, in addition to leveling.

And DPS stances are surely meant for OTing and they always have been--whether DRK and PLD are properly balanced as OTs in terms of damage dealt is a separate matter. If the developers intended for DPS stances to be used while main tanking, they likely wouldn't have added an accuracy bonus to the tanking stances to ease the accuracy burden on the main tank without also adding it to the DPS stance (and at that point, it would simply make more sense to reduce the frontal accuracy requirements).

Does the current design support that intent? Not particularly. But you can't say that Deliverance would have no purpose if it weren't usable while main tanking as that ignores the other half of tanking, which is off-tanking a number of fights.