[PVP] How can I find a good team?

I've become more and more interested in doing arenas at a more competitive level than "let's farm Conquest every week with random people". None of my friends or guildmates seem very interested in competitive play, however, as we're mainly a PvE guild (which I don't want to leave).

Do you guys have any suggestions for how I can find a 3v3 or 5v5 arena team that would accept a prot-pvp paladin? (or even a Ret one, I guess - as my gear is non-holy.) Almost every paladin seems to be a healer (for good reason), but that's not the direction that I am geared (or experienced). I've tried barking on trade chat, intermittently, but results seem pretty slow, and my odds of finding a team that's genuinely interested in pushing for a good rating seems similarly low.

Do you think it would work if I were to mail (in-game) some of the relatively ranked teams that I see on the PvP ladder? On the one hand, they're looking for competitive teammates, but on the other if they are well ranked then they already have them. (Or want a healer )

Prot pvp is not viable on any level beyond 1200.
Spam trade chat for a few days,ask around in known pvp guilds and duel a lot in front of SW/ORG.
Eventually,you'll end up with partners if you're not on a very low populated server.
Keep in mind tho,that most of the people whispering are bads,you need some luck too.

(The dueling part is VERY crucial to make other people know you and your level of gameplay)

<g> probably depends on battlegroup, but yeah. I've been up to 1600, but my partners have been pretty decent. Have yet to hear anything about a 3v3 team, sadly, but there are like five on my server, it seems like.

I'm rolling as ret in pvp.
Try restoshaman + dk +ret
Warrior + ret + discpriest
or
Ret+hunter+rogue

Some day I'll have to look into why certain combos seem to work (obviously player skill can get you quite a ways, but that apparently only takes you so far.) I was running an Enh. Shaman/Disc Priest combo with a friend for a little while (it was a side thing, we weren't aiming for a certain rating.) It worked out for the most part, only a couple matchups gave us problems in the ratings we were in (sub-1500, I don't remember how far we actually got.) But is that a "good" combo, and if not, why?

I'm not at a point where I can be picky about comp -- I'd like warm bodies that are actually interested in playing every week and playing well. I've had some great 2v2 experiences, though, and may have found a more permanent partner for that.

"Good" combos work because they have good control, it seems -- CC/snares/etc that don't all share the same diminishing returns, for example. Good burst on demand doesn't hurt, either, and Disc is remarkably resilient.