Tol Barad on PVE server.

[Gaupz]

So when i came back to WoW about three months into cata I assumed that Tol barad(being a heavily contested PVP zone like Wintergrasp) would toggle PVP flags.... for somereason that doesnt seem to be the case.... blizzard babys pve servers like this.... why would a pvp zone not toggle pvp (because they added dailys?)

[Ualaa]

Blizzard caters to the lowest common denominator.
They want content to appeal to the 99.99%, and for those 99.99% to experience the content rather than cater to the 0.01% who could handle the highest challenges.
And this business model has proven to be extremely successful.

The whole addon system allows those who aren't skilled enough to raid in a challenging environment (read classic Everquest or Vanguard) where you had to notice things like Boss Emotes (no Deadly Boss Mods to tell you to move now) or that a raid member has a debuff you can cure (target them, cast the correct spell, no Decursive) etc..
It has opened the door for higher end raiding, for the masses who would be absolutely lost in classic EQ style raiding.

It would make sense for Tol Barad to flag people the same as Wintergrasp.
But if you choose to play on a Carebear server (like me), Blizzard doesn't want to force you into PvP activity outside of battlegrounds.
The idea is pure consensual PvP...

Also, TB is the main daily hub... not just one place where a small percentage of the dailies can be found.
It's not like WotLK where 60% of the Dailies are in Icecrown, 20% in Stormpeaks, 10% in Wintergrasp (which will flag you) and 10% elsewhere.

[Unca]

It could just be that Blizzard wanted to see how it works. Wintergrasp was always 100% PVP-flagged at all times, regardless of which type of server you were on. Maybe they wanted to see if more PVE people would use the zone if they turned the flag off in between battles. The reason players go to PVE servers is so that they can determine for themselves when they want to PVP. Putting a pretty important daily quest hub (good place to get PVE weapons via dailies) in a forced-PVP zone on PVE servers would probably not go over well with the player base, especially one PVE servers with a big population imbalance.

It's a strange mix, though. You fight in a PVP zone for the right to do PVE dailies that grant PVE gear. Err... okay. Not that I'm complaining-- I don't run instances or BGs with my groups, so it's an easy way to upgrade their quest-based weapons with little effort or fuss.