what am i doing wrong?

[RygaenYuui]

There is no enmity degeneration in this game, which is kinda sad...but it's kinda important for you as a tank to know so you can better understand how it works.

Attacks increase enmity; The harder or the more you attack for, the higher enmity you gain. (Reason why some tanks will stack STR)
Criticals draw more enmity than regular attacks.
Damage over time increases enmity.
Regeneration over time increases enmity (Regen/MedicaII/Whispering Dawn)
Enmity skills increase enmity.
Provoke only sets your enmity @ 100% on the list, so if someone has DoT on it or is still using skills, then using provoke by itself is often a fruitless effort and needs to be combined with another skill to ensure you have gained full hate.

That being said, WAR can hold hate on crowds and multiple mobs much easier than PLD can. On PLD you will be mixing your only AoE attack and Flash to gain as much hate as you can on multi-mobs. Fight for flight definitely helps to make sure you keep hate starting off as well, since your attack skills are increased.

With Ex Primal fights, especially Garuda, when sisters pop, you need to stack Circle of Scorn + Flash with Shield Oath up to ensure that you have immediate enmity established on those enemies you're dedicated to pulling initially. Spirits Within and Circle of Scorn do not share the same GCD like flash, savage blade, etc, so don't be afraid to use those to try to keep enmity as well.