Started my toon almost 3 years ago, just when OoW started out. I had no clue what was the best class to play, but have always liked the role-playing of the Knight in shining armor, Arturian legend theme. So, I made a paladin, not knowing what I was getting into. Once I bumbled through to level 25ish, I started doing LDoNs and quested for my ghoulbane. Once I got it, I thought I was immortal (mwahaha). Took my time to 55, and had a BLAST paci-pulling, tanking, healing my group, adventuring, etc...
When I past 55 I hit a HUGE bump in the road. No more pulling, and could not tank for crap. The mobs just became so much tougher. Died countless times to trash. I was frustrated to say the least. But I put so much time and love into the pally, I pushed forward. Hard to get groups outside of my family guild. About the time I hit 65, I was saved. DoN came out, and I did Creators for the crystals and xp til my eyes bled. Upgraded nearly all my gear and became a sufficient tank. Joined a raiding guild, upgraded more gear over time. Not until I hit 70 did I truly GET what being a pally was all about. We are NOT dps (unless it is undead). We are NOT warriors. We ARE the BEST at snap aggro and holding aggro. Period. We group heal when the SH@# hits the fan. We are emergency rezzers when the cleric dies. We cure the group of most detrimental spells.
AGGRO is an art form. Like stated in previous posts here, a group should understand their role in NOT getting aggro, or at least, how to let the tank reacquire the aggro should it be stolen off the tank. Puller pulls one lets say. I hit my best 1 second stun before it gets to camp. As long as the puller pulled with a low aggro tactic, I have aggro immediately. I stun a second time before it reaches me. Now the slower can do his bit, melee goes in and sets up, nukers start at like 92% or less, and I RARELY ever lose the aggro I start with. I don't "chain stun", I get my hits in, stun on occasion, sometimes quick heal myself for more aggro, taunt if necessary, etc.. If the mob is undead, I stun less and let my slay proc go to work. 17.6k slays seem to get the mobs attention /wink. (and to answer the OP's question, I average 2.8 slays per undead mob when I solo the Nest undead side or Direwind Boneyard).
I am now 75 with my 2.5 epic, over 2000 aa. I have to say, Pally is NOT a broken class by ANY standard. I am very functional as OT on raids, and keep eye on my groups HP's. Several pallies on a raid can make the difference in some encounters where the AE's are flying. In groups, I am just as capable as any other good tank for any content. Sure, warriors and SK's out-DPS me against non-undeads, but I bring other things to the group than they do. I say Other because each tank has their strengths and weaknesses.
Question to the OP..do you have Ward of Tunare? That makes ALL the difference in the world when you go to solo undeads. AND, if you are NOT soloing undeads, you are in the wrong zone (assuming you are xp-ing for AA, that is). And just to clarify, clerics are a PLATE class. Clerics can be ok tanks when needed. They just are not in the top 3 choices for tank, it is a poor use of their primary focus. Recently they upped their ability to dps, and gave them a bunch of other neat spells. They needed to do that to keep clerics playing their class. W/O clerics, raids would never happen. Keep the clerics happy I say, I love em all.
NOONE uses pallies any more? Hmmm, I disagree there. Maybe fewer people are leveling newer pallies, because the tank class is the most gear dependent role out there, and with today's content, it takes forever to make a sufficient tank. And pallies definetely have a HUGE road block from 55 to 65ish. Just my 2cp there...