That Protect / Shell change would certainly drop the skill floor. 8% pseudo permanent mitigation means the healer would have to heal 8% less of the time, period. It would also make WHM way too desirable in progression content, even more so than it already is right now.

I agree with a Protect change, but I don't agree with this particular suggestion because it wouldn't change the dynamic of the protect spell very much but make the impact of it far too great for how easy it is to use.