So, I've been playing around with a shaman tank build just for fun, and I've been finding that although there are some, there seems to be very few options for actually enabling that. Not that there aren't options(Echoing Power, Wind Slam, and Stormhammer come to mind), but they're few, and it feels like they're mostly wind/lightning themed, whereas I'd want to make something more neutral or earth-themed (because themes are half the fun of build making for me,) and
I think the idea of a tank focused on using Maelstrom Weapon is very fun, but that's pretty much impossible to make work without Windfury. I think one potentially fun alternative would be to add some way to gain maelstrom by blocking- maybe tied to Rockbiter so that you can't stack it up with Windfury maelstrom gains and actually giving that spell some use. I think something else that would be nice is a convenient way to add Earth Shield charges to yourself, maybe tied to a melee ability or something.
And aside from all that, maybe just some more earth-themed spells for shamans! With the introduction of spells and abilities from the live game, maybe Sundering could make it in somehow. Maybe also some mitigation in the form of a totem with a good chunk of health that redirects damage from the caster to itself. Otherwise, some ways to turn shaman spells/abilities into personal mitigation would be nice!
I think it'd also be nice to have a unique tank stance, but I don't think that's particularly likely, so instead I'll advocate for changes to the existing ones. Right now you basically have the choice between going for Defensive Stance, or one of several stances with very thematic spells and abilities tied to them. There isn't really a generic stance for caster-melee hybrid tanks, since Mana-Forged Barrier and Righteous Fury gives you access to arcane and holy abilities respectively, with Defensive Stance being the only really generic one. Having a more generic stance focused on combining spells and melee abilities would make it a lot easier to make thematic tank builds drawing from classes that aren't traditionally tanks.
Now, it wouldn't surprise me if I'm alone in my desire for this, but I wanted to get it out there anyways. What do other people think? Should we have more options to integrate shaman spells into tank builds?