What IS the Pally "active mitigation"?

[Nobleshield]

I'm testing Prot Paladin in the Beta now to make an informed choice between Pally/Monk/Warrior tank when live hits. Now, I know Monk's active mitigation is through 1) Judicious use of Guard, 2) Keeping BoK up for Shuffle, and 3) Knowing when to use Purifying Brew to clear Stagger. Prot Warrior's is through knowing how to manage Shield Block/Barrier.

What is the Paladin's? As I near as I can tell Prot Pallys are roughly back to Cata launch where you get your damage reduction via using Shield of the Righteous, which is a staple ability. There doesn't seem to be (and keep in mind I've only very very VERY briefly tried it out) any real "choice" to make since without using SotR you're taking unmitigated hits. Sure, you might occasionally use WoG but it seems very passive compared to at least Monk/Warrior.

I'm not saying that's necessarily BAD, just trying to get more informed since the last time I played my Paladin seriously was in 4.1 with the great WoG nerf but they seem to be a solid choice going forward into Mists (and Ret feels a lot more interesting than Arms/Fury atm).

[checking facts]

paladins have always been kind of passive lol

[Rivin]

Paladins have two choices, just like druids and warriors (Savage Defense/Frenzied Regen and Shield Block/Shield Barrier). Death knights still have their one. If monks have many, that's an outlier.

[Nobleshield]

WoG (Or Eternal Flame I guess if you take that) counts as a choice? Legit question, I didn't know that heals count as mitigation.

[Rivin]

WoG (Or Eternal Flame I guess if you take that) counts as a choice? Legit question, I didn't know that heals count as mitigation.

It's counted as part of the active mitigation system. We have one physical mitigation spell (Shield of the Righteous), just like druids have Savage Defense (+dodge) and warriors have Shield Block (guaranteed blocks) for physical mitigation, and one magic-defense spell (Word of Glory), just like druids have Frenzied Regen (an instant heal) and warriors have Shield Barrier (an absorption shield). Of course, the heals aren't really mitigation, so calling the system "active mitigation" is a bit of a misnomer, but I guess it's too late to try and change it to "active defense" or something. :/

[Nobleshield]

On that note, is it looking like Eternal Flame is the talent to take? I was thinking it'd be Sacred Shield since it's an absorb.

[Splosion]

There's a couple of small things adding to this. Because of the two-roll system that is being implemented (and in addition to that, stat scaling), we're actually more likely to be throwing stats at dodge/parry for the most part when 5.0 hits, in addition to looking to cap hit and expertise.

As for the talent, Eternal Flame is just a more powerful WoG, so if you literally need that (to get around some heal absorbing or something similar, it will be better on a per-fight basis than Sacred shield. Again, the new talent system makes a straight cut one-size-fits-all talent spec obsolete, so it's not a case of "X is better always".

SotR is the bread-and butter damage reduction, similar to death strike, but less storable.

[judgementofantonidas]

the new talent system makes it so even a cave man can tank. it really does not matter which talent you tank you are still going to be just as successful as the next player (with the same skill as you) but using different talents. the talents are merely for flavor. Blizz has basically dumbed down the rest and built it into your spec, so in essence there is no more cookie cutter build. now you are the cookie.

[Bisso]

the new talent system makes it so even a cave man can tank. it really does not matter which talent you tank you are still going to be just as successful as the next player (with the same skill as you) but using different talents. the talents are merely for flavor. Blizz has basically dumbed down the rest and built it into your spec, so in essence there is no more cookie cutter build. now you are the cookie.

Because it was so hard improvise a viable build back then right?

Tank spec on pretty much all class were boring and easy to learn, unlike DPS or Heals, you can learn how to effectivly tank on any class in about 15 minutes. The new Talent change doesn't change that, but it didn't make it worst, it just didn't affect how boring tanking became (or rather, never improved compared to dps and healing roles).

Blizzard wanted to have all tanks on active mitigation so now that they don't have to care about threat anymore, they could focus on survivability, putting points into talents before a fight isn't active mitigation. They simply ran out of ideas, or were to scared to try things out with tanks. DK blood shield is an interesting approach, monk's stagger is the most interesting tank ability yet. They still got 3 class to make fun to play as tank. Again, nothing to do with talents.