Provoke/Ultimatum is NOT a part of your rotation!!!!

[Makeda]

I'm not talking about swaps. I'm talking about an off-tank Provoking and then immediately Shirking the main tank to give the MT free enmity. That's not a swap.

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OK and that STILL DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE what the OP was referring to / complaining about...

I don't know where this idea has started or why it's so spread, but for the past few patches, I've noticed an increasing amount of tanks and cotanks using Provoke/Ultimatum as a regular part of their rotation

Which is not only very different from the 'swap' I presumed you were referring to, but ALSO very different from 'using to manage enmity when paired with shirk' that you were referring to.

I stand by my comment - I am surprised you've never met one of them, but these tanks that just spam the provoke button on cooldown exist... especially in low level content, but I've even seen one in a WoW raid... It's just a thing that pops up in MMOs... like the folks that show up for content in only half the iLevel normal for the place, or who haven't put half the skills on their bar, or never did the Job quest. None of it's common, but it happens and sticks in memory.

[HyoMinPark]

OK and that STILL DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE what the OP was referring to / complaining about...

He does refer to “tanks and cotanks”:

but for the past few patches, I've noticed an increasing amount of tanks and cotanks using Provoke/Ultimatum as a regular part of their rotation. . . .

So, it’s possible that he is referencing some 8-man content scenarios here. And, in 8-man content, (good) tanks and their (good) co-tanks regularly Provoke/Ultimatum and then Shirk to give the MT free aggro provided that there are not any upcoming swaps.

I was also challenging the last part of OP’s post: Provoke/Ultimatum + Shirk are not just sat on for adds and/or swaps, especially in endgame content such as Ex, Savage, and Ultimate. There’s a myriad of uses for them beyond just those. There are some instances in 8-man content where the co-tank uses Provoke simply to be second on the aggro list, like in Final Omega for his blue-marker laser beam thing (can’t remember what the name of the attack is called, but I believe OTs Provoke there just to try and end up second on hate there so it won’t target a DPS—which has happened to me before).