Character collision is actually used as a main stay in tanking in GW1. I've been recently playing GW1 and found this very unique and different way of tanking in GW1. Despite being an old classic MMO it uses a different way of tanking which involves body blocking, the characters have character collision so the tank would position himself in a way to block off enemies from continuing their advance to their allies behind him.

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EDIT: On more to it I think it would be interesting if the Meat shield not only make the tank take partial damage of his allies within his aura field but if there was say TWO TANKs the damage will be split evenly between them long as their auras are touching. I think in the case there are two tanks they can split the damage. I've noticed this mechanic nowadays while tanking in other games is a very good way to deal with enemies while tanking with other tanks. Otherwise it's kind of awkward to have to fight over aggro between tanks, there can be a way for tanks to collaborate on dealing with having more tanks in the team.

There could be different variations of this feature.

1. One where you cover allies and take some incoming damage for them.
2. One where the allies get more defenses the closer they are to the tank and it becomes less when they are further from the tank.
3. One that increases allies damage the closer they are to the tank.

It would be nice to see tanks have it because tanks have to suffer from two common problems.
1. DPS are always going ahead of tanks. This sort of aura would encourage dps to actually wait for the tank to do the pulling. It's a little annoying.
2. DPS runs away from the tank when they have aggro, this would encourage them to be closer tot he tank

It would look almost like soldiers moving in formation and would be more impressive gameplay.

I was always thinking of this ability. I was thinking what if there was an active toggle you turn on that make you take X% of the damage of others behind you would take as long as they are within your back aura. I would call it more like "Human Wall" or something because it is like people are taking cover behind you. Like the Cover ability of Knights from Final Fantasy but it's a back aura that make you take certain percentage of damage of your allies instead. Definitely be useful for team based strategies. Would also require a lot more interaction with combat and support and DPS need to be actively staying behind the tank while he moves around. DPS and support would have to focus on more things than just pushing one button for sure.

Consultant post_id=21416 time=1554465942 user_id=53 said:

Yesterday one of our devs suggested adding a power (he called it "Meat Shield") for tanks. It would be something that tank chooses to take, or does not, rather than an inherent power.

I think this should not be so much a power but an intended skill of being a tank.

Consultant post_id=21416 time=1554465942 user_id=53 said:

His idea is that the tank should cast a wide (90 degrees?) field behind him which increases defense and resistance to squishy players who are following him at a distance (out of AOE range around him), as a buff.

This would give the support, healers and devastators a safer spot in chaotic battles to cluster.

I am thinking a "telegraph defense" effect would work. Like how telegraphed attacks work but in reverse and would project behind the tank so those "standing in his/her wake" would know where to stand and how far the area would be covered. Perhaps it can be staggered based on distance. as well. The closer he/she is to the target, the wider the band, the further away, the narrower the band.

Perhaps it can be affected by the tank's health as well. (See below)

Consultant post_id=21416 time=1554465942 user_id=53 said:

Of course decisions like this can have unintended consequences. If we did implement something like this, it might create a guild of cute girl tanks in short shorts, as fewer would presumably follow an Ambassador-esque figure if they are going to be looking at the tank's posterior all of the time.

I have no problem staring at a... err ahem... standing behind an Ambassador-esque posterior. 😀

Consultant post_id=21416 time=1554465942 user_id=53 said:

So, how do people feel about a Meat Shield power?

Here are some thoughts that could be cool.

(Telegraphed) Defensive Barrier (Manual Proc)
Based on Range with a Cone Attack and based on the tank's health when the ability is procced.

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Or how about the cone changes verses how close the tank is to the enemy. The tank and the rest of the party would need to constantly be aware of each other's movements because if the tank movies, so does the telegraph defense. You would also need to be aware of the Enemies movements because if the enemy jumps back and launch an AOE, the cone will change based on the range.

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Do not approve. Please leave buffing, protecting, and healing to defenders and devastators.

If something like this is going to exist, put it in an ancillary power pool like Leadership in CoH which all characters have access to