Just getting started tanking: Most efficient xclass order?

[Februs]

GLD -> 22 for Provoke. Use Cure, Protect & SS xclass to help soloing

Don't bother with cure. It scales for utter crap on Pld. You'll drain your entire MP bar before you see a decent return on that move, if the enemy is even nice enough to not hit you long enough to use it. The only time cure even does remotely well on Pld is if you scale your attributes with Mind, but that's contrary to pretty much every other asset of Tanking, so I wouldn't recommend that either.

Stoneskin, on the other hand, is amazing, but you are going to have to really work on your timing to use it effectively. It is one of the most potent xclass skills a Pld has, but also one of the most difficult to use. I recommend learning how to fit it in early, because Clemency works in much a similar way. You won't use it at all if you don't get the hang of the timing... and then you'd probably come back here to join the chorus of complaining Pld's who say that the cast time is too long to be useful... Which isn't true, really. It's just specifically tuned for Tankbusters and really precise timing.

MRD -> 26 for all xclass abilities. Make sure to use flash and provoke from GLD
GLD -> 34 for PLD and Awareness, cause it's needed later

Awareness is amazing for War later (coupled with Raw intuition), but don't underestimate its early use on Pld and Drk. By itself, Awareness is very situational, but on regular CD it works wonders with Bulwark (Pld) and Dark Dance (Drk). Nullifying Crits takes them out of the Crit>Block>Parry>Dodge equation (can't remember if that's the exact order). Removing Crits from the line up increases the efficiency of any move that increases one of the other stats. By using it with either of those moves, you're basically increasing the odds of successful blocks/parry's/dodges. War gets a similar effect at maximum Wrath stacks, but you'd have to stay Infuriated to get the effect. Pre-3.0, that's obviously not ideal. So, post lvl 50, it's better to just use it to Nullify the Crit penalty of Raw Intuition.