Read this over at Grimwell.com and then consider the following...
Why is WoW's system so dramatically different between PvP and PvE? Beta PvP had item damage upon death which proved to work very well to deter zergs and promote good PvP. The only problem was that people didn't fight unless they outnumbered their opponent and could ensure an easy victory.
WoW has quickly taken a change for the worse. The battlegrounds(BGs) are a rampant mass of people spawn charging every 30 seconds from graveyard to graveyard. There is relatively no PvP outside of the BGs now. The BGs themselves are all about one huge penelty.... lost time. You wait 30 minutes or more now to get into them only to have one side dominate the map in the first 15 minutes and then its back to waiting.
The few times you get into the 40 vs 40 BG it closes way to fast. When you get into capture the flag you are doomed without a good group. And watch out if you play during the off hours... the BGs will rarely be open for you to enjoy due to a huge lack of players.
Not to mention that PvP ranks seem impossible to maintain anymore with most people slipping way down in the ranks because there is no longer a surge of people to kill.
WoW's PvP is fast and fun... I am not arguing that it is not. But the system as a whole is horribly ineffecient and results in a net loss for everyone.
Fixing the system is another post in itself. This was meant more to make people think. USE THAT BRAIN!