I have a suggestion. 95% of my deaths are when im stopped and hovering over drops on the ground (yes, even with loot filter) or trying to pick stuff up. Sometimes after a big prophecy hits, there are 30+ items on the ground and it becomes a physical impediment to gameplay.
What if we could cast either a time-stop spell or cast a bubble that grants immunity while you can check out the drops on the ground. All offensive abilities could be greyed out, timers can stop, so there is no exploiting it. Even putting it on a timer, or not allowing it in certain situations. It’s not so bad with tank classes who can take a spire hit or two, but more so for everyone else.
It’s 4s without using skills (although some skills don’t count for spires and you can use them without triggering them. Presumably skills that can’t deal damage or apply debuffs, would be my guess).
So if you stop using skills for 4s you already have your unlimited time to sort through them.
That being said, I dislike that prophecies drop wherever they happen. I would prefer a system where the prophecy gets fulfilled and then you can either go to the observatory to collect them or you go to the faction screen and activate them there.
You can already pause if you play offline. Pausing the game online would open a can of worms with multiplayer and how you’d need to handle it. Which is why pretty much no game does it.
If you look on the floor while in combat that’s on you. I never ever died because I was loot greedy in over 3k hours. That’s a non issue and shouldn’t even be considered to be changed.