Well I just want to say, being a fan of Ret in PVP (havn't gotten to the point where they apparently suck, yet) GJ Tommy... don't let anyone break your stride.
What these guys don't seem to get is your best weapon in real PVP is the element of surprise and as lame as it sounds it's increadibly true. While most of the time Ret doesn't serve as a threat to the enemy, it's safe to say that 'most of the time' this is due to the fact that the Ret pally has no clue what the hell he's doing.
Tossing Conc does much more than is apparent. People trying to drop target to find a new target are auto-assigned you again each second due to the consistant damage, and the hits ***** with heals and CCs. I personally love the tactic...
In the end it boils down to who can react and counterbalance a surprise tactic and who can deal with it. You'll probobly find a bit more teams on the whole that can deal with it in top end, but a real *surprise* will be effective even higher I believe.
Don't listen to me, though... Never played a Paladin past 48 =P