I'm not sure it out classes a tether

Even in those older encounters, we would have used Tether over Saint-14 pretty much every time. It's a better version of the blinding bubble, not counting the buffs the bubble provide - it blinds all enemies entering a certain radius, all enemies in that radius take increased damage, there's nothing obstructing your shots, it generates a metric ton of orbs, the list goes on. Think about the Templar's legion phase in VoG - tether lets you blind and slow all those fanatics while still letting you shoot them at the same time. The only situation I can think of where bubble would still be best would be at the end of the Abyss, where it both blinds the thralls and protects you from wizards and the ogre.

99 times out of 100, the bubble was only used for its buffs. That last 1 out of 100 time was in a panic situation, which you can do the exact same thing with barricade in D2. As much as I loved playing Defender and as much as I still love using the bubble in D2, until they give Weapons and/or Blessing of Light back to the bubble, it will always be a second-rate super.