Before I begin, I wish to preface this discussion with a disclosure. I understand quite well, that currently, the sole tanking stat (parry) is frowned upon because the game has been designed and balanced in a way that discourages tanks building defensively, but this is a discussion about moving forward, not remaining where we are.
Anyway, as I have just mentioned, tanks as it stands, are pretty much glorified damage dealers who can actually take a hit. A group of friends and I see this as more or less misunderstanding what makes a tank in gaming what they are, tanks. It shouldn't be that we build full offensive, our threat in all forms of combat should be that we're unstoppable juggernauts, slowly carving opponents up with our blades.

Our solution? Stats. As it stands, tanks have one stat that actively increases our durability that we have a choice in: Parry. Parry as a concept is great, parry in practice... not so much. We all know it needs a better formula, one that rewards us for choosing it over critical hit rate, skill speed, or determination. But one stat to rule them all is just as unhealthy, so what I wish to propose is increasing the amount of stat options available for tanks.

There are a myriad of examples of stats that could work, be it something like Lifestealing (a good option for WAR and DRK?), simple Elemental Resistance (think single elemental resistance, but for all six/seven elements), Deflection (Parry for magical attacks, maybe just rolled into Parry), Regeneration (passive HP regen in combat). While most of these would still be good for "fluff" attacks, they do add up over all and would allow healers more room to assist in doing damage. In addition to all of this, it would make tanks feel like they were tanks instead of damage dealers who happened to tank. We really shouldn't be asking ourselves "how are we supposed to maximize our damage" we should be asking ourselves, "how are we supposed to minimize their damage." At least, that's what I think.