Losing AoE Threat

After a long break from heroics I ran heroic HoS today with my fellow guildies. Having maintanked & offtanked Ulduar 10 & 25 for the majority of the month, I was expecting the run to be a piece of cake.

Far from that. I was constantly losing threat to the fire mage and pulls were very messy with me chasing loose mobs around while spamming Hand of Reckoning and Righteous Defense.

My pulling style is pretty standard. I open with Avengers Shield, and then proceed to the 96969 rotation. I just focus on a single target and allow HotR and Consecration to maintain aggro on the other mobs. I had no problems holding threat on my target but HotR and Consecration doesn't seem enough to outpace the mage's AoE threat on the other mobs.

I spec 53/18 which is the highest threat build. With regards to gear, there is not much disparity. We are both geared for Ulduar 25. Here is my armory. And here is the mage.

I am by no means a nub and usually have no problems holding threat. It's just mages in general that cause me problems (happened on occasion before). Pallys are supposed to be kings of AoE tanking so I am wondering what is going on.

1) Is it a case where the mage needs to hold back on AoE dps and focus on single-target?
2) Is losing aggro an accepted side-effect of AoE dps-ing that us tanks just have to watch out for and react to? (e.g. rotate SoR amongst targets; be prepared to taunt; etc.)
3) I am thinking that since HotR applies SoV stacks, would speccing for Seals of the Pure help generate better threat upfront on multiple mobs?

Any ideas would be appreaciated.

In my experience, Paladins are now the WORST aoe tanks out there. Given more than 4 targets at least with the HotR glyph. Our consecrate just isn't what it used to be. I'm easily overtaken by D&D or Thunderclap. Just make sure to position yourself for HotR then consecrate. Or at least have consecrate already down before mobs get to you. Between holy shield and the said spells above, you "shouldn't" be having any issues. Also make sure this mage you're running with is at max range as that plays a factor in whether he can go 10% above your threat or 30%. To answer your questions more specifically;

1) This is an option but not ideal. You could mark a kill target and focus most threat on that then after it's dead have the mage start aoe.

2) In an AoE situation in Ulduar, I'm constantly taunt spamming off of ranged dps. It's just something I've gotten used to.

3) With the current state of our judgements/seals you're better off with the 53/18 build over SotP. It's not much snap aggro as it is and the dot would have to tick anyway.

Hope this at least somewhat helps you.

--Race

I'd have to disagree that pallies are the "worst" aoe tanks, the problem is that abilities liek Tclap and shockwave are great for pickup and snap aoe threat, while pallies have much more significant threat over time.

If you dont have the HotR glyph, I'd recommend getting it, helps quite a bit to have that extra add picked up.

And if you're an engineer, bombs are great for aoe mob pickup =P

I stand corrected. One of the worst on initial aoe snap threat with more than 4 mobs.