I've noticed that 
is a must for a tank. You can be 6 items without and melt by the hands of the enemy ADC
In fact a tank is either unkillable because of active or a buffed up squishy because armor and hp get melted by ADC's crit and 
I disagree, the best tank for a game is not feeding. Gimping the gold income for a carry is the best way to reduce their damage, one item does not change the melt factor as you explained as a issue.
i main maokai and i never build that item...
my typical build on maokai is
hell one of my last game i went went 
cus we needed an ap threat due to my team being all ad.
