PSA: Provoke and You.

[Tranquilmelody7]

It's fine to pull with Provoke in SHB with light parties, I do so all the time.
Provoke has way more range than the Ranged openers, and starting with voke let's you conserve a GCD and initiate your DPS rotation sooner.

If you're really worried about losing snap enmity just weave a potion after your first GCD and you should achieve a conventionally insurmountable enmity lead.
Provoke has such a short CD that itbeing unavailable at thestartof a battle is rarely relevant.

For Alliances and especially high end content you are correct, you probably want to conserve provoke and having someone rip initial hatefrom you isn't worth the risk

Though tbh I pull with provoke during alliances all the time without putting my group at any apparent disadvantage.
As with using provoke with any situation, what really matters is how it's follow up resolves.