LurkerPrime
Member
One thing I think is missing from this analysis is that all tanks have self-shield or self-sustain abilities (most of them are also team utility abilities, but not all) to allow them to soak up enemy fire and stay effective.
All tanks except for Zarya also have gapclosing capability so that they can quickly initiate a fight, and all tanks except for Zarya have very short effective range but good power within that range. (Zarya has a grenade launcher instead of a gapcloser.)
Basically, tanks in Overwatch are a lot more like League tanks than WoW tanks -- they're meant to engage the enemy, soak up damage, and kite back out while their team starts killing.
I was thinking more of the "MMO trinity," but the MOBA comparison is a good one. Same for the range thing (I find it hard to think about Zarya's range because her laser's so hard to judge in that way.)
You raise great points.