[Prot] Prot Pally PvP

[pld]

I'm thinking about switching to Prot for PvE purposes and I was just wondering if going Prot PvP was viable at all.

I assume arena as prot is fairly difficult, but how useful are Prot Paladins for RBGs? I've only pvp'd as Holy so I'm not too familiar with the other specs, but is there a completely different set of pvp gear for prot and ret? If so, would it be viable to just use the ret gear as prot so that I could double-dip and swap over to Ret pvp when needed?

[Nairobi]

Prot PVP is an adventure in frustration and futility. The lack of any vengeance scaling means that aside from having negligble damage, we have our main sources of survival nerfed as well. We have very poor mobility compared to ProtWar, Guardian, and BrM. We have poor self heals compared to Prot War, Guardian, and even BDK. We have terrible control, perhaps the lowest of all tank classes. We have little to no CC, are incredibly weak versus disarm, silence, stun and fear, and our biggest survival options drop the flag.
If your aim is arena, go Holy. If you hate Holy, go Ret, but don't expect to do fantastic or get many willing partners.
If your aim is RBGs, go Holy. If you hate Holy, choose a diff class.

Ret and Prot gear is interchangeable, in both PVE and PVP.

[pld]

Prot PVP is an adventure in frustration and futility. The lack of any vengeance scaling means that aside from having negligble damage, we have our main sources of survival nerfed as well. We have very poor mobility compared to ProtWar, Guardian, and BrM. We have poor self heals compared to Prot War, Guardian, and even BDK. We have terrible control, perhaps the lowest of all tank classes. We have little to no CC, are incredibly weak versus disarm, silence, stun and fear, and our biggest survival options drop the flag.
If your aim is arena, go Holy. If you hate Holy, go Ret, but don't expect to do fantastic or get many willing partners.
If your aim is RBGs, go Holy. If you hate Holy, choose a diff class.

Ret and Prot gear is interchangeable, in both PVE and PVP.

Mmmmm, figured as much.

After arena-ing since it came out in TBC, i'm looking to take a break and try out some RBGs. I'm mostly just looking to have some fun with a few guildees so we probably won't be pushing too hard for high-rated RBGs. Would it be worth it to stay prot at lower MMRs for BGs like WSG or should I just save myself the pain and go Ret and look for a Guardian or BrM to be our tank?

[Fhi]

Even for FCing, we are sadly still one of the weakest candidates. You're likely better off getting another tank class with more control and mobility to FC. And ret.... well, it's ret.

[Nairobi]

Mmmmm, figured as much.

After arena-ing since it came out in TBC, i'm looking to take a break and try out some RBGs. I'm mostly just looking to have some fun with a few guildees so we probably won't be pushing too hard for high-rated RBGs. Would it be worth it to stay prot at lower MMRs for BGs like WSG or should I just save myself the pain and go Ret and look for a Guardian or BrM to be our tank?

Ret fares decently in RBGs, Prot is genuinely pretty poor. The big issue is the stigma that Ret has in the rated PVP community. I guarantee that if you DO get into an RBG, even a low-MMR one, you'll have members questioning/ridiculing why the paladin isn't Holy. If it's your group, then you can deal with that how you see fit, just giving a heads up. Whenever I do RBGs, I usually do very well (given my MMR is crap cause I've only done like 10 this season), and people still complain.

Guardian/ProtWar >>>> BrM >>> BDK >> ProtPal for FC/tank in RBGs.

If you genuinely enjoy defending/FC'ing (as I do), strongly consider rolling/gearing a Druid or Warrior, as both classes fare far better than Prot Pal for that, and both DPS specs (moonkin esp) significantly outclass Ret in RBGs.

[pld]

Fortunately it's an in-guild group so I don't think I'll get any negative feedback for going Ret. It seems like Blizz is working on Ret's sustained damage so...fingers crossed I guess.

I also do have a fresh 90 Druid that's just been gathering dust so if I find ret uninspiring, I can always do that.