I'm saying that they shouldn't build tanks to conform to fixed templates, which is something that they've been doing since ARR. Creating a 'pure healer/shield healer' (WHM/SCH) style dichotomy for tanks isn't going to be any more groundbreaking for game design than it was for healers in 2021.

HW DRK borrowed elements from both PLD and WAR, which is why it ultimately became a PLD replacement. A lot of the elements that you describe as being part of the 'tank template' were still there, including:
  • Rampart
  • 30% mit on a 3min cooldown (as the counterpart to Sentinel/Vengenace)
  • Invulnerability (Living Dead was created as a more punishing variant of Holmgang)
  • Delirium/Reprisal (as the counterpart to Storm's Path/Rage of Halone)

As much as I enjoyed the job at the time, it was still creatively hampered by forcibly conforming to existing tank templates.

When tanks are too similar, little balance differences end up creating a huge impact. Breaking them off into a PLD-reskin category and a WAR-reskin category doesn't really address this issue, nor does it break new ground.

As an example, could you create a defensive toolkit entirely out of placeable shields that line of sight incoming damage? Could you create a lifesteal tank that converts health into burst mitigation?

If they're introducing a new tank, I want to see something radically different from the others in design, like they did with the DRG jump concept. I would rather them take a creative risk and completely upend job balance than be overly safe and create a new form of homogeneity. Updating PLD and building a new PLD-reskin isn't the answer.