The official line is that transmog vendors were too complicated and no one could find them so they decided not to give us a transmog vendor so that we don’t feel too intimidated by the concept.
The actual reason is likely that because BFA PvP sets share models with Warfront sets, they want you to keep doing Warfronts to finish your sets instead of just buying the PvP ensamble at the vendor. It’s the flagship feature of the expansion and you will go and do it and you will have fun with the varied and engaging gameplay.
That’s how much Legion sets cost. Also you still need proper arena rating from Legion season 1 or 2 in order to buy season 1 & 2 elite sets. So that would be applied in this situation if we would get this kind of vendors for BfA.
That still doesn’t explain the honor sets you get randomly.
Spent about a month trying to grind the Leather Armour PvP set (Dread Aspirant’s Leather) I couldn’t get the head or chest for a very long time, I didn’t even get the chest due to RNG. Grinding Bgs is awful for just trying to get gear, the RNG behind it is trash. War/Supply chest and the Call to Arms is better as you will at least get 1 item but in most of my experiences it is the same ones as you got before.
It is complete BS if they won’t add the honor transmog appears to a vendor. Elite Gladiator should be the only ones which are limited to time (pvp seasons) not the others.
They are talking about regular gladiator sets, not elite ones. In Legion you could always buy those with marks of honour once the season ended, they are just making us wait longer this time for whatever reason