A DRK Rework Suggestion for 7.0 (or beyond)

[Archwizard]

Considering DRK's current position as a tank, I've been thinking a lot about its personal sustainability. It all started with asking "Why isn't DRK the vampiric tank, instead of WAR?" and snowballed from there.
Now that we've had a few hours to digest the Live Letter announcement, I figured I'd drop the rework document I've been working on for about a week now.

CLICK HERE

Change Summary:

• Darkside mechanic is completely reworked: now transforms abilities and their functions for a magical burst period; Blood Gauge reworked into "Abyss Gauge" to fuel these abilities
• MP is now used for life-draining abilities (Abyssal Drain and Bloodspiller)
• Blood Weapon and Dark Mind are now tools to facilitate increased healing at early levels
• Stalwart Soul and Dark Missionary are learned at lower levels on par with similar tanking skills
• Living Dead completely reworked: Gives damage immunity but drains health over time
• Carve & Spit, Delirium, Quietus and Shadowbringer now serve to boost the Abyss Gauge
• The Blackest Night no longer has a cost but has a longer CD; Oblation’s effects folded in
• New on-demand mitigation skill: “Dread Spikes”, which shares a CD with The Blackest Night and recovers some HP and MP when struck
• New raidwide defensive skill: “Martyr”, transfer incoming raid damage to yourself to regain MP

As a bit of a disclaimer, I have no expectations we'd see anything of this magnitude in 6.X, nor that this is the only possible vision for DRK moving forward. If come March 4th we find out what I've written is completely outdated, great. At best I expect this to be a jumping-off point for discussions about both DRK's current state and its potential for the future.

This is also not some sort of flex that "I could do it better." I have the utmost respect for the devs and love for this game, especially having played many MMOs with far less communication from their dev team who had far less respect for their players' time investment.