Gladiator/Paladin vs. Marauder/Warrior for tanking playstyle?

[Nobleshield]

I have been trying out a Gladiator to see how they play, and am considering trying a Marauder for a comparison, as I inevitably end up tanking in any MMO that I play. I'm curious as to the actual playstyle between the two though as I feel that might help my decision. I have played a Protection Warrior and Protection Paladin in WoW and a Warrior in RIFT; the "active mitigation" style of tanking in Mists of Pandaria soured me on tanking as I enjoyed the more oldschool tank where your goal is to hold aggro and use some defensive cooldowns versus actively attacking the enemy and using your resource on mitigation.

Can anyone give a very brief overview of tanking as both of these classes at the higher levels (I know Warriors are getting buffed for 2.1 but I don't know enough of the game yet to understand what all the buffs mean)? So far it seems like Paladin is the more "traditional" tank which appeals more to me, but I'm not 100% sure how they both play. Paladin seems more my style as you have a few threat abilities and then cooldowns, with it mostly being up to your healer to keep you alive, which is something I miss in other games that have moved towards the style where you use your abilities for some resource and then use that resource for mitigation.

[Urthdigger]

Primarily they are quite similar. They both get the best defensive gear, and skills that allow them to hold hate (a 3-part single target combo, and an area move). Paladins focus more on traditional mitigation, while warriors use a more active style that rewards them for attacking foes.

Really, the best way to see is to give them both a try. From the sounds of things Paladin is more your style, but you'll find warrior is not very different in a lot of ways.

[Saevel]

And since they do share some gear, you could do both. Or at least prolong the time you have to make the decision.

[Bixby]

It's worth noting that you'll end up playing them both to a certain level for cross-class skills regardless of which you take, so you'll get to see them both a little.

Warrior is more like the active mitigation you're talking about from WoW. It's not nearly as pronounced, though. You do the attacks you would be doing anyway, and those build up Wrath, which you then spend on one of a handful of abilities (usually Inner Beast, which now does a large heal, and in 2.1 will do a small heal and provide 6s of damage mitigation). That happens roughly every 20s, and it won't be quite as make-or-break as the WoW model, where you can't not do it. It's sort of like a CD that just has a fairly short CD. And depending on the situation, you'll be able to choose damage of some sort over mitigation without suddenly becoming squishy (whereas in WoW, you really couldn't afford to not Shield Block/Shield Barrier unless you were facerolling something you outgeared by a lot).

The other main difference is that Warrior has 3 possible 3-move combos vs. Paladin's one 3-hit and one 2-hit (that doesn't see much use at all). A Paladin's tanking rotation is 1-2-3. A Warrior's is 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-4-5, and in 2.1 might be 1-2-3-1-4-5-1-6-7 (depends on details we haven't seen yet).

All that being said, yes, Paladin is very much the more traditional tank. You do your threat rotation and rotate CDs when it's time, and occasionally use some other attack in addition to/instead of the threat rotation. Warriors have a more complex rotation and that secondary resource that you do use for active mitigation, on top of more traditional tanking CDs.