There really is no reason at all to use PvP gear for tanking, other than the gavel. The Felsteel set is readily available on the AH or if you know a blacksmith, Aldor rep will give you a nice chestpiece, the Arcatraz key chain gives you a very nice belt, the Slabs quest chain gives the bracers, and a SV quest chain gives you a perfectly good helm. With all this stuff readily available with like a week's work involved, I really cannot see why anyone would bother grinding out the honour for a full set of PvP gear just to tank in it. The instant you hit 490 defence and 12k health, you jump into a guild kara run and start picking up purples. Virtually every boss there drops at least one piece of tanking plate.
The only piece which is difficult to fill is the shoulders; there's a quest in Netherstorm that gives some decent green ones, but if your guild has a strong no-greens policy then the shoulders off Laj in Botanica lasted me literally into my first T5 run.
Maulgak wrote:
Not everyone shares this view though. There's various Prot Palys on my server that still mainly look for Mages/Rogues/Hunter so they can have CC. I don't know why, maybe they're just scared :P, but sadly that's how it is on Bloodhoof :(
It's good to be cautious. Especially if your healer isn't so flash.