It's worth noting that Protect CAN be an active and engaging buff... in a fight where people are dying. Getting folks up AND getting them re-buffed is important (particularly since the loss of stats due to weakness means that Protect is needed more than ever), and in such situations finding the time to reapply the buff while trying to keep the rest of the party alive can be quite an ordeal, to the point where having the ability cross-classed on your party's PLD can be a great blessing.

Of course, at present NO content in the game has unavoidable deaths. If anyone dies, it means that something has gone wrong, and normal play means you cast Protect once and never again. Perhaps someday, SE will add content that includes inevitable deaths that the party needs to recover from (for example, one player needs to sacrifice themselves, or the whole party dies, or as another example, at 50% health the boss casts Death on two random DPS), but for now Protect is only an engaging buff when things have gone wrong.