Agreed for the most part only in Northrend. If you look at gear in the 60's it is mainly aimed at Ret tree when it comes to a pally and very little to do with Prot, I would carry a shield and kind of a tank set for some stuff just to be on the safe side but mostly you have to worry about Prot spec until later, now if your going into say an instance where the mobs are 2-4 levels higher that is different but if there about the same you should be fine with Ret.