Nothing you said contradicted my original point, so I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Provoke doesn't work as a taunt, it works as a niche ability in very specific circumstances that may or may not be present in every single fight. A true taunt is something that is useful in every single fight.

All of these issues would be corrected by the implementation of proper abilities, such as Holmgang being a "real" gap closer (and paladin getting one as well - maybe some kind of heroic leap) and taunt actually forcing the enemy to attack you instead of continue its path toward whomever it was already after, then *maybe* turning back around if the other player isn't still mashing his 123 on it.