What do you guys think is the cause of severe lack of Tank users?

[aodhan_ofinnegain]

But that's the thing. We had two AoE actions. Now we have one AoE action across two buttons.

Or, to put it another way, you had two possible decisions, and now you have one. You had choices between defensive vs. offensive benefit. Now your choices are... none.

How is using two buttons to perform the same action, with all decision-making beyond "Are there 2/3+ enemies?" removed, less braindead than having actual decisions available, even each only takes a single button to perform its function?

There was never a decision in AoE for tanks like you are making it out be, you had no aggro tied to Total Eclipse, you had to Flash to get an aggro lead, which eventually blind effect was diminished, you only used unleash for initial grab, because the potency was so bad, then you pretty much TBN for gauge so you could quietus for more mp to fuel AD spam and steel cyclone vs decimate was usually a comfort choice more than a mitigation vs damage choice.

[Shurrikhan]

...

And between the two design choices of making something more practical out of each decision and removing decisions altogether to replace them with button bloat and reduced fluidity, they chose the latter. You rejoice; I lament.

The very fact that Blind was a flat accuracy reduction based on your level, while all mobs in turn had Accuracy correlative with their other stats kept the mitigation value of Flash relatively consistent (on all but, eventually, bosses whose specials were only much later changed to be unable to miss), and the reduced value via diminishing returns gave it more opportunity for decision making therein ("Do I want two uses (1.5 durations) of Flash? Three?"). Had DRK and PLD not been left with such horribly clunky stance mechanics, or even had TE just been retuned slightly, or enmity given a siphon component, as to better scale with gear differentials, instead of the excessive 10x multiplier it received) that would have allowed for something far more impactful.

But instead, design shifts have consistently sided with the removal of choices from tanks rather than making those choices more meaningful. And then we wonder why tanking feels stale.

...But I guess design is fine as long as we hit the few buttons we have often enough, right?

[Rasikko]

There was never a decision in AoE for tanks like you are making it out be, you had no aggro tied to Total Eclipse, you had to Flash to get an aggro lead, which eventually blind effect was diminished, you only used unleash for initial grab, because the potency was so bad, then you pretty much TBN for gauge so you could quietus for more mp to fuel AD spam and steel cyclone vs decimate was usually a comfort choice more than a mitigation vs damage choice.

Abyssal Drain spam is dead now unfortunately.