Paladin: Random Pally Question

[Ox Of Knox]

Howdy Guys,
Looking for something to do while not raiding, and call me silly but farming gold/rep/mats just makes me want to gouge my eyes with a spork, So I roll a Pally. Ive got him to just about 40, and I'm trying to level him to 60, for the most part to have another tank in the guild, we only have a few, and frankly Id like to try something new. Now to the question, Ive been told Ret is the best for leveling, and I can see why more DPS = More Dead Mobs, but is there any reason I couldn't go Retribution with a 1H Weapon? I only see 1 talent that buffs 2H weapons, and I figure, Add the dps to 1H with a shield for extra survivability. Is the a smart route, or am I just being silly trying this?
Also, what would you say the best proffessions would be for a pally? Right now Im Engineering (which I'm keeping) but Im at a loss for the second primary (I have toons with Tailoring, Mining, Skining, Herbalism)

Morbert
RuneTotem
Alliance

[Absalom]

I'd probably say blacksmithing so you can make your pally's armor and weapons.

[Debuff]

ret pallies use 2 handers because they benefit from the higher dps that you get from a 2hander over a 1 hander. You mayb see only one more buff to 2handers as opposed to 1handers but keep in mind that 2h weapons always have higher base damage than 1 handers.

[Vmaster]

Taken from the Maintankadin forums regarding professions for Prot Pallys:

Engineering
- Rocket launcher stam trinket (if you're going to buy the Darkmoon Vengeance card though, you could consider this rocket stam only useful as a secondary stam trinket or for some pulls, and thus becomes situational rather than always-equipped)
- Tankatronic head piece (roughly equiv to T5 I believe). This is the main reason I personally chose this prof.
- Teleporter to A52/Everlook (goblin engineering 'home base')
- Earn a good income by gathering motes from those swirly clouds
- Can open locked treasure chests

Alchemy
- Trinket is brilliant for healers because of +40% benefit to potions, but a tank will probably never use it
- However, the mad alchemists' pot is 1/3 the cost of normal pots so is a good way of reducing your operational costs
- Earn a good income from making potions/elixirs etc

Enchanting
- +4 to all stats on your rings
- Can disenchant your old gear (less depressing than vendoring)
- Can farm low level instances for good disenchant profit
- Make your own wizard oil for threat
- Bloody expensive (in opportunity cost at least) to level up, however you can apparently stop at 275 to be a disenchanter of outland L70 blues
- Can earn a good income

Leatherworking
- Not a good choice, only benefit is the +5% haste drums of war

Blacksmithing
- Not a good choice for a tankadin, there's one epic tanking BOP armour and the weapons do not have spell damage
- Good for retribution pally

Jewelcrafting
- No sustainable tank benefits
- BOP jewels are good, I believe, haven't analysed them though
- Blue trinkets are temporarily good but will get replaced quickly (perhaps the high stam / spell damage blue would be useful in a threat setup)
- Stone statues only useful for levelling to L60
- Can be a good income earner if you don't waste money buying recipes

Tailor
- bad choice

Mining / Skinning / Herbalism
- Great choices for income. I used skin/herb while levelling up. A good decision. Drop them at L65 or so before you hit Auch or Mana Tombs as there are some recipes drops in those instances.

___________________________________________

To the OP: since you want to keep engineering (good choice), I suggest taking Mining to help with mats you will need.

[KaySlay]

i have a level 60 Paladin Alt, and I was using a 1 hander with Improved Seal of Righteousness in the Holy tree. Then I just switched to Tankadin, which I like more for lvling