Picking up my paladin againFollow

First off, my paladin was my first character to 60 and was my main for more than a year and a half. I enjoyed it thoroughly but felt like I was missing out on many aspects of the game.

I ended up leveling a rogue to 60 and a warrior to 60 right before TBC. My warrior has been my main since TBC. I epic'd him out in full season 2 in just two and a half months during the summer. I still enjoy my warrior greatly but feel like I'm missing out on the PvE aspect of WoW.

So I've decided to finally get my paladin to 70. Currently he is lvl 64 and is specced ret. I've been reading the forums a lot and am looking forward to making him a protadin and just doing pure PvE with him.

That way I'll have a fun melee class for pvp and an awesome tank always available for PvE. No more switching talents on my warrior.

So I have a few questions (seeing as I've never grouped with a protadin since I've played my warrior for the past year and 3 months).

1. Are protadins really that desirable in raids? How about heroics?

2. Is it very monotonous being a protadin?

I really want to get my paladin epic'd out with heroic / tier 4 gear from kara and just mess around with him. I don't really want to have to get him a full healing set and then try to get protadin gear while healing in instances.

I like the idea of AE tanking and playing my paladin again. Finally something has caused a spark for me to start getting back into the game.

Any and all advice is welcomed.

To cut directly to your questions (though trust me, I did read your whole post)

1. Yes. We have a distinct advantage as Main Tank or Off Tank in most encounters in Kara, a slight disadvantage in most Tier 5 encounters (though there are a couple where it's a huge bonus), and are invaluable to have around in Tier 6. Mt. Hyjal can be easy-mode with a Pally tank at times.

2. It's monotonous being any spec of any class if all you do is the same thing over and over again.. If you're farming some item or whatnot all day you'll get tired of it fast. Sure, blowing away all of the Demon Hunter Supplicants at the Black Temple in one pull is fun... but there's a bajagillion more things to do in WoW.

What is that trinket that when you block it heals you? I've seen lots of paladins use this in videos and it heal them to full health. Am I thinking of the right trinket?

Simskin - Why no Sacred Duty? I personally love all th talents in Prot that give you Stam, and 6% is QUITE nice.

Also, the Figurine is dropped in Shattered halls.

Sexy only begins to describe it, hehe. There's something about pulling the entire SM Cathedral (cathedral itself, outside in the courtyard, boss, everything), getting low on health, then hitting that trinket and zooming straight back to full health that's just ... indescribable! Now if only it were easier to loot 50+ bodies at once >.>