Well, I must admit, I have been doing it wrong.
I am prot specced still, not full mitigation prot, but still prot.
I am prolly the last to know this...
I leveled from 70-76.6 with 2 1H weapons. 1 Slow in MH for hard Devs, and a faster offhand.. kinda combat rogue style. popping Whirl, shockwave, cleave, and HS. in Zerker stance.
great for multiple mobs.
I swapped to my Shield + slow main hand last night... about the same DPS overall, but I took very little damage.. much less down time. I stopped to eat maybe 2-3 times last night. I stayed in Defensive stance.
I use
[Enraged Regeneration] to get health back, or when I was needing health mid-fight.
I can't kill multiple mobs as quickly as 2 1H, but less downtime is worth the difference.