Noob question: Ret or Prot for leveling?

Introduction:
(skip this part if the 'wall of text' seems too much... you can always refer back if you think it will help you answer my questions better.)

First let me outline what I'm trying to accomplish here and why I'm attempting it, as my circumstances may have some bearing on what's best for me. My main (and first WoW toon ever) is a hunter. From the very start, I have had a delightful time with this class: I REALLY have a blast in BGs and solo questing, and my main love is PvP. Of course, I can't really get all the gear I need for arena by doing just BGs. Most of it, yes, but there are a number of items, such as cloak, ranged weapon, certain gems, crafting recipes, etc. that you have to get by running instances, either for the drops, or simply for badges. This is all fine and good, but as a DPS-only class, and moreover, a member of probably THE most over-represented class in the game (with possibly the worst reputation for average skill) I can basically write off PuGing as a total waste of my time, especially on a low-pop server like Garithos. The invariable result of every past attempt has been 1-1.5 hrs of time spent spamming Trade to get a group together for Kara or a heroic, then another 45 mins-3 hrs. with a bunch of people who can't cooperate effectively and ending up with nothing to show for it aside from a huge repair bill.
My guild is PvP centric, and while we do have healers and other DPS who would love to run Kara, two of our three tanks have made it very clear that they have all the gear they need from there already, are bored with it, and have no desire to ever set foot in there again. The guildmaster is DPS also (rogue) and needs badges and gear from kara as well, but his take is that since this is a PvP guild he's not going to make instance runs mandatory or ask anyone to respec or do anything they don't want to with regards to PvE. I've considered looking for another guild that is more interested in at least SOME PvE content, but the options are limited on my server (where I play with several of my RL friends) And the general attitude seems to be "we can get DPS anywhere" so with just my PvP epics, and no provable experience with PvE content my options there are limited. Aside from that, my guild is VERY organized when it comes to BGs and world PvP, and we have a lot of fun there, and to be fair they have done a lot to help me get my S1/Vindicator by running efficient premades and helping with enchants, so I don't really want to just bail on them. We do have a feral druid who can tank well and is willing to help out, and another hunter who is in the same boat as me has a prot. warrior alt at 62 now that I am helping get to 70 so he can tank. (Pet tanking normal ramps FTW!) I have agreed to help him get leveled as rapidly as possible so he can start tanking kara and heroics with our druid, but if he's running on his warrior he can't get his hunter geared, so we need another tank.
I have a level 30 paladin that I am leveling to become a tank, and I simply need to get him to 70 as quickly and efficiently as possible so I can help my friend get geared up too. Getting a 70 from my guild or one of my friends to run me through an instance for gear or experience is not an issue. My main is an enchanter and blacksmith so I can craft some items for my paladin and enchant them as necessary to speed up the leveling process.

My Questions:

• What spec should I go for leveling? So far I've put all my points in Retribution because I assumed that since it was the DPS spec it would be faster leveling, but based on some of the things I've read here maybe not? my SOLE consideration is what will get me to 60 fastest, at which point I will respec prot anyway to gear up/level up in outland instances.
  
• What instances to I need to run prior to outlands for the best gear so that I can maximize my leveling speed? Is there a "must have" list somewhere that I can follow or just a few basic items?
  
• Any BoE epics I should keep an eye out for that would help with my gear setup while leveling? I make extensive use of Auctioneer and wowecon to track prices so i can maximize my income, so if there are 2 or 3 items that would give me a big boost, I could keep a lookout for them on my daily banking sessions and snag them if they're reasonably priced.
  

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Moderation in all things... including moderation.

Ret.

Even though compared to your hunter you'll feel horribly underpowered, it's still the best dps pala can have on the way up, which equals the greatest leveling speed.

wowhead the biggest, badest 2h drops from instances along the way and see if you can pick those up. pump strength on your gear and you're good to go.

Ret gives you more punch against casting mobs, prot gives you more punch against melee mobs. Both are viable leveling specs, particularly after you have points in reckoning. I would probably rate Ret higher for questing, but prot has the advantage of being a great instance spec that fills a vital position in groups.
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I like Prot. Pick your mobs well and you can have lots of fun, plus you're familiarising yourself with the tools you'll be using at 70.

It is a completely different, but I find complimentary approach than that of a Hunter.
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Been Hacked - Lost mah Purplez

TBH with the new leveling xp/quests there is no reason to be prot unless you actually want to level slower that way. AoE grinding in ineffective now due to faster XP from quests and less XP required to level. Spec ret and do all the quests, it will be faster than trying them as prot.
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I chose to level as Prot - largely so I could learn how to tank right early on.

As for leveling speed, it hasn't seemed all that slow at all. In fact compared to my other toons its been downright fast.

I also did a lot of instances, and a lot of PUGing, for that same reason of wanting to learn how to tank right.
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I just wanted to say that I have been asking myself this very question, and the responses have definitely helped.

I'll probably go Prot, simply because, as Wyleai and Ulushnar pointed out, that's what I'll be using later, so I might as well get used to it now, so that I get the nuances down (hopefully) by 70.
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Current Status: Slowly questing to 70...

Ret is the only way to go if you are trying to get to 70 as fast as possibe. The big rule here is stay the flux out of the auction house. Sure gear is important as a pally but you said you have friends to help you with the tough stuff. You also should have your friend who u are helping questing with you. This will def. balance out the fact that sometimes your gear is slightly sub standard for your class. Also as a note I would stay out of dungeons while you are lvling untill you at least hit 65ish. honesty its just faster, a bit of a pain and boreing somethimes but its true. The only other faster way I could think of is "if" you are getting speed soloed through dungeon after dungeon in the 30-60ish area. Me and my buddy did this from lvl 14ish through 45 in 2 afternoon/evenings of speed running dungeons with my wifes 70 affliction warlock.....It was by far the worst and most boring time I have ever spent on a video game.

Note: you can grab 70 blue prot gear from questing and easily pickup crafted felsteel etc for when you hit 70. You should not ever feel like you "have" to run dungeons for prot gear. Basicly there should not be a real reason to ever be prot unless your raiding / running heroics / 70 dungeons / or pvping a warrior or a rogue, especially if you have friends to help you level......I love being prot but its just the nature of the spec.
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By the light of the Moon!.....POOF!

Prot is a wonderful way to level. I leveled from about 30 all the way to 70 as prot before the XP change. It went rather quick and was also the best time I ever had leveling a toon. I never did the AoE grinding and simply did optimized questing which would be even quicker now. Doing quests like kill x mobs or collect x items from mobs are really easy as prot. Instead of killing one or two at a time, you can pull tons of them and finish in no time.
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I don't recall actually AoE grinding with my protadin. The only time I AoE'ed a lot was trying to grab the map fragment drops in Tanaris. Terrible drop rate.

That said, I didn't shy away from simultaneously grabbing 2-3 mobs in cave areas. Relished it in fact. Same as escort quests (which mostly have been made much easier by a recent patch).
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Are you down with OPPaly ?

Personally, I enjoyed Retribution leveling more because I like to quest and frequently switch to a new area.

Prot is faster if you have the dedication and drive to do something repetitious. It sounds like it might work well for you.
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http://armorylite.com/us/medivh/michaelberea

I leveled 1-60 as Ret, 60-70 as Ret, and I don't see myself leveling as anything but Ret for 71-80.
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