The way to get more people playing tanks is to redesign them to be more friendly to new players learning to tank. My suggestions:

1. Shield Lob can be 3 targets instead of 1. Maybe this was done to avoid it looking like "other" games equivalent, but making this an AoE threat tool instead of a single target would help Gladiator immensely.

2. Or, keep Shield Lob single target and give cross class Overpower. The idea of a "single target" and a "multi target" tank doesn't work in practice, because the "multi target" tank won't ever have issues with single target tanking (her abilities don't suddenly stop working because there are fewer mobs) but the "single target" tank WILL have issues with AoE (because her abilities never work to begin with).

3. ALL tank classes, now and going forward need their own taunt, and they need it early. Provoke being a level 22 Gladiator ability was a very poor design decision. This means that the only option for snapping a lost mob's attention back on you is chasing it down and trying to overwhelm it with abilities again. I've never played a game that seriously thought a taunt was a luxury ability instead of a staple of the tank role. This should have been one of the first abilities you get before you can go into dungeons.


A few better design decisions will make the job easier to do. When you have a role that already is less popular because of all the other things mentioned (have to lead the dungeon, have to mark, have to know every pull before you do it), taking away the tools to do the job only makes it even less popular.