Against all odds is completely necessary for shield defense, grant cover only benefits teammates and phalanx is better with teammates. id still take phalanx for the auto +def it provides.
its very easy and simple to get soft cap'd positional defenses with shield, the issue i see with shield is lack of HP, true grit should allow for more of a +max health. only three tanks should truly be able to hit the hp cap and keep it and those are invul, wp, and shield. invuln can perma dull pain and keep perma hp cap with the right build while also soft capping fire/cold/energy/psi/and negative def. due to having soft cap defenses for those 5, invulnerability doesnt need hard cap'd resistances for them due to dull pain.
shield defense is really good on endurance so its only lack is the res and a self heal/hp. i for one wouldnt be mad if true grit took away the +res to all and was just a pure +max hp auto power. SD doesnt have a self heal and thats why the lack of being able to get the resistances up, and hp cap is why its not that popular.
willpower is the only one that doesnt need any changes as its already OP. hard capping res doesnt matter if resting regen is 750% and 1250%+ when farming mobs. my Wp tank has every res only sitting at 50% or more and it can handle tanking anything at +4/8, handle Gm's.
