is WAR the best MT now?

[Violette]

Also how would giving it a cast time be anything but a hinderance?

It's simple.

I turn on ShO/Grit, I immediately have an extra 20% eHP.

I turn on Defiance, I have to wait to be healed, meaning there is a gap in tankiness that an Equilibrium heal can no longer fill.

As such, we can all agree that ShO/Grit are better "cooldowns" per say, as they activate immediately.

Having them still have a cast time is simply to balance out the game play of ShO/Grit vs Def.
I turn on Def and the healer doesn't top me up, I'm still just as tanky as I was before (give take 0-10% parry).

It's clunky, but for the power it gives it should have some drawback. Reducing the gcd recast timer (emp arrow, meditate), is something SE has doneand could be applied here to take out some of the clunk while respecting the power of the stances.

Not quite....
For easy numbers, let's say I have 16k HP
Activating defiance puts me at 20k HP
If I status off defiance at 16k, I'll be at full HP.
Then I instantly reactivate and would be at 20k again.
In this scenario, it's up to a 4k heal every 10 sec.

Shield oath/grit is different in that when you turn it off or on, the indirect effect to ehp is based on current, not max hp

Out of curiosity why do ppl want them off gcd so bad? QoL?

People don't appreciate that ShO/Grit is a superior stance upon entry.
QoL would be reducing cast time.
Silly would be taking it off the GCD.

Want a quality of life fix? Learn the fights and turn the tanking stances on/off when needed. My only issue with stance dancing is with Grit's stupidly high mana cost.