Originally Posted by
Lorelei
No, it isn't, because you're confusing "spec" with "role." They are still prot warriors using the prot warrior "kit" (one button changes into a different ability, though) but they are using that spec to do something different. Cats and bears play like two different specs.
Put differently, if assuming a different role in one spec is like having access to tri-spec, then hunters, rogues, mages, and warlocks only have one spec, because their role never changes regardless of spec. Feel free to object to the idea of prot DPS happening outside of a fourth spec (I don't), but you can't base it on the idea that it amounts to tri-spec.