What if Shield Bash were aoe stun ogcd? (NOT pvp)

[TofuPenguin]

Just being ogcd would be a blessing. So useless right now.

[Seku]

Shield Bash, I'll give you certainly. As long as it remains a GCD stun, it might as well not exist.

But Cover? Certainly not my good fellow. Intervention has not replaced what Cover can do in the slightest. Arguably, Cover needs some of the nerfs it received since Shadowbringers lifted:
A) removal of gauge cost and keeping it mitigation-free
B) re-add the Lv66 mitigation trait, but keep the value like -10% or -15%, while keeping the 50 Oath gauge cost

There are many ways in which way button "bloat" can be remedied, but I will sooner wish that the hell froze shut than to lose one of the last unique things about tanks in an attempt to cure button bloat.

Your suggestions to fix cover still makes it a horrible version of Intervention and a backup with extremely niche uses at best currently. Also please show me where "Intervention has not replaced what cover can do in the slightest"

You suggest 10% or 15% reduction on cover with gauge cost when intervention gives you 20% mitigation that can be increased to 30% if rampart or sentinel is used and if timed correctly and a 250 pot regen. This means at worse, aka you messed the timing up, intervention provides an additional 5% mitigation and 250 pot regen if you used rampart or sentinel. If you didn't use rampart or sentinel it is even with your suggestion or 5% below with a 250 pot regen. If you used it correctly (which you should once you learn the fight and TB) intervention is almost always subjectively better, the exception being in cases where cover can circumvent a mechanic entirely. So suggestion B is dead on arrival

The only other times cover is good is if you're about to save someone from dying, which quickly gets overshadowed with learning the fight and dies off quickly as it holds no value beyond that currently in most situations. Also Intervention can achieve the exact same effect assuming the move won't 1 shot them, which random damage doesn't unless maybe in the highest tier of content. In which case we revert back to the first issue of everyone eventually learning the fight.

With nothing to spend gauge as the OT you're going to use intervention as it's the better move 99.9% of the time, even with your "fixes". Suggestion A dead on arrival.

Cover even with the 10-15% was mainly used as a method to protect the main tank, while you were the OT providing an extra cooldown which yet again...intervention has 100% replaced cover in this regard and every tank has now. So please show me where this "unique" button is ever used that was given out to the other tanks in slightly different ways. As TBN, Nascent Flash, and Heart of Corundum all do what cover, so much for it being "unique" other than you take the damage with cover, would have done in the past with the exception of a few situations where it was used in cheesed stragts and currently all out do cover, even with your "fix"

Let's now say option C. 10-15% mitigation, no gauge cost and is on a timer ( which really is all the gauge really is but only counts when in melee range), intervention is still better due to the fact and as stated earlier you have nothing to spend your gauge on as OT. Hopefully, you're not turning the boss and moving it out of position to try and save someone to get in range of cover while MTing.

The only way to "fix" cover would be to make it intervention, but you take the damage. Which ends up being just as useless as you just have the same thing twice and should in reality should just be PLD getting another mit, shielding, or OGCD as long as intervention exists as really all you've effectively done is attached Holy Shelton to cover.

TLDR;
Intervention has better mitigation if used correctly, a regen attached to it, and allows for the person that you're using it on to use their own mitigation tools and serves as the main function that cover was used for.

Cover sucks in every situation outside of cheesing mechanics.