I respecced my pally to holy when I hit 80, but I levelled as a ret.
The advice you're getting is correct. You want strength and agility and anything that gives you +crit (i.e. for rings and trinkets, if you have to make a choice, take +crit over +haste or +AP). As a ret pally you really want to be maximizing your chance of critting because that is where you get the truly amazing damage output. You also want to use slow 2H weapons, not a sword and shield. Crits are multiples of the maximum damage your weapon can do, not a multiple of your DPS, so the bigger that top number the bigger your crits. Also, a slow 2H favours Crusader Strike and Seal of Command, which crit a certain number of times per minute - meaning that those slower swings are each more likely to have a crit on them, so your DPS goes up over using a slower weapon where the crits are spread out over a bunch of smaller damage hits. Unless you're a blood elf - i think seal of blood is based on a % chance of crit per swing so then you want more swings (I think - my toon is a Draenei, so I've never needed to look that up).
Gear like that and soon you'll be one-shotting your way through the clothies in Alterac Valley.
(It's probably worth spending some time on the forums over at elitist jerks. They go waaayyyyy to deep into theorycrafting, but read a few of the posts and you'll get an idea of how to gear your specc.)
