I think there's a lot of negativity towards Provoke pulls because it's often seen as something newer/unsure players do when they don't understand mechanics, and don't realise that it only generates 1 enmity on a single target. They see it as "high threat ranged attack" and pull everything with it regardless of range.

I admit I was almost one of the naysayers until I realised just HOW much longer range Provoke has than Shield Lob/Tomahawk. You can do some very very fancy pulls with it, and the pre-Anantaboga trash pulls in AK are probably the best example.