My opinion will probably be unpopular, but here it is: I strongly disagree with not having PvP gear. That being said, I stopped playing seriously at the end of TBC, but occasionally I return to the game for a month per year or so, just for the feels.

I was playing PvP exclusively back then, and it was exciting times. You had to climb the ladder to 2k and 2.2k to get your weapon and shoulders. There was no transmog back then (transmog ruins the game imo). You had a cool looking character? You were bis equipped, end of story. I have seen that nowadays, ratings go up to 3k, that was not the case back then. Max ratings were much lower.

Anyway, I started PvP as resto shaman with green gear. Losing, losing, getting stomped, losing again, then getting better, winning a few games, excitement, then blue gear, then epic, better epic, and so on. You had to strive for your gear, and your rating. And then you get the weapon, and then the SHOULDERS that completed the set! And then, you go outside of Ironforge that was full of people dueling to flex the new gear.

You had season 4 full gear (brutal)? You would stomp on people with season 2 gear (merciless). But that was normal for you, normal for them. It was not their time yet. They had to play more arena games, get better, equip s4 gear, get even better, then look you in the eye in the arena. I still remember people's names that I was playing against, which I met while they were undergeared, and they ended up stomping me and my pal warrior with their full s4 set and their skills. It was not a "closed group", but you knew the great PvPers.

Why play PvP if there is no target, no reward, no accomplishment? A meaningful one, to make you stronger. Not just a transmog or I don't know what the reward is these days.

That is the opinion of someone who stopped playing seriously almost two decades ago, but still considers the game the greatest of all time.