As for the class homogenization, roles were actually first step (or one of first steps) – and I have to say they were welcome by me (as a player who prefers playing a single character instead of alts).

The problem with old, especially pre-trinity, model is that it’s much better if everybody’s viable in any setting but nobody’s required. Even when I could get groups despite not being viable – standing around looking pretty and leeching XP off others wasn’t my idea of fun.

Blizz obviously invested dev-time to counter the “boring-ish” nature of tanking, that for me states that blizz actually DOES care.

I think a lot of the reason why people would not play a tank is because they are only needed in the “endgame”, while blowing up stuff is essentially useful everywhere.

The question is not merely the fact that tanking is not fun, or that it has been degraded or pushed out because of its unpopularity. If we do away with the nuances of the role system, such as that there is specific gear for tanks (as there used to be for healers), the game becomes homogenized even further, when there is no longer a point in playing one class over the other except for flavour, since they are all given the same basic tools.

But I digress a bit – I agree with you, tanks are in decline, and nobody cares, especially not Blizzard.

The pure/hybrid division is likely to disappear first, with all classes receiving a tanking build.

The reason: the hybrid-less model actually turns out to not be a huge amount of fun when it comes to dungeon-running.

Tanking as we know it was built on the aggro mechanic–a far from perfect but convenient way to create a combat scenario that other roles could participate in– healing, damage dealing, crowd control, buff/debuff, etc. Now it’s dps all the way down.

These games used to be about figuring out how to maximize the synergy of a diverse group. The progression has been to streamline the roles from 4-5+ to 3 and now effectively toward one.

Why not make every instance an escort quest where the npc just tanks for the group?

I identify with a lot of tanky traits. I love melee, like being situationally aware, love being sturdy and hard to put down, and supporting my friends by controlling the enemy. Been able to do that all on my Guardian so far.

(I’m a big fan of pushing WvW zergs to morale breaking point by flanking them, or being out just far enough that folks target me… then get a wall of reflection up in their face plus two spirit weapons, and I’m back into the zerg to heal up. That almost always makes them backpedal just a little as the rest of one’s group surges forward just a bit more. Chokepoint control is a great Guardian specialty that I haven’t delved into much.)

I believe warriors might also have some of that tanky flavor with a lot more offense. And necromancers are crazy at having a huge hp reservoir for survival. Also met a nearly impossible to kill elementalist once, probably earth/arcane spec’ed.

Plenty of tank-likes, just no 100% guaranteed aggro control, which is awfully boring and cheaty easymode for dps if you think about it. I much rather have my fellow game players get smarter and play better, rather than end up being ungrateful entitled people ready to abuse someone self-sacrificing for them.

As for the aspect of being an egomaniac control freak wanting to make sure everyone is following them just so, doing stuff exactly how they want it, it is also independent of one’s class in GW2.

…which isn’t to say that liking tanking is immature, of course. I tend to think that good tanks have to be very mature, just as part of the job. It’s just that the market inevitably moves on, and these MMOs tend to bank on the promise of perpetuity… and there’s a natural tension there.