Level 84 on my Paladin now and it's ridiculous how much more useful I feel as a tank.
Not just because I seem to take less damage (or at least can self-heal a lot of the taken), but also because I've got so many tools at my disposal to ensure that mobs are doing what I want them to do. And those tools are designed in a way that makes much more sense (more efficient).
If we start with mitigation, the 10% damage reduction from Demoralizing Roar is built into your hits, so no hitting a non-damaging ability every 30 seconds, you just pound away. You've got more armor than a Druid (at least for now) and you've got a group Barkskin (two- or three-minute cooldown, though). For reactive mitigation, you've got an instant cast AOE heal and a "free" instant cast direct heal. Not to mention your regular heals which you don't have to shift out to cast.
For threat, all your attacks apply a Lacerate-like effect. Your primary AOE attack hits as hard as Maul and has a 3-second cooldown. You also have an AOE on a 15-second cooldown that stuns undead and demons (elementals and dragons if glyphed). You've got a fire-and-forget AOE attack on a 30-second cooldown as well. You can't pop a CD and do 10k DPS for 15 seconds or whatever Berserk lasts, but every 3 GCD (on average), you can unleash a guaranteed Mangle crit.
As for resource management, you start at full and with proper playing, you never run out. Imagine Pulverize giving you 50 rage each time you use it.
I'm sure Blizzard balanced it somehow, but I really fail to see where. Yes, my Druid has slightly higher DPS while tanking, but my Paladin has two freakin' anti-death cooldowns. One that ignores the killing blow and returns 15% health and one that returns 100% health.
I mean, come on. Throw Bears a bone?
Edit: I forgot, it seems the balancing point is that Paladins don't get their 50% mitigation until level 85.
Edited, Jan 4th 2011 3:10am by Mazra 
my Duvel tulip) 
