Recently, Kalgan, the lead designer for World of Warcraft, showed up on the Beta forums and put up a lengthy, illuminating post about Blizzard's philosophy when it comes to PvP itemization. Zach Yonzon has put together these contents and post it on 
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The details are as below:
Like it or not, Arenas are here to stay. I think we should all learn to live with that. A couple of days ago, Kalgan showed up on the Beta forums and put up a lengthy, illuminating post about Blizzard's philosophy when it comes to PvP itemization. He talked about and mostly defended Arenas and the existence of Arena ratings for obtaining PvP gear. It goes a long way towards explaining the new tiered itemization -- an impressive three tiers that appear to be concurrently available -- within the PvP system.
One poster's contention was that there was no access to PvP gear before engaging in Arenas was countered with Kalgan mentioning their efforts to include craftable PvP gear. This was an omission in The Burning Crusade that became apparent as the seasons progressed, with newer players or Level 70s struggling to break into the Arena format faced against opponents who had gathered gear through several Arena seasons. This was addressed philosophically with the introduction of Outlands reputation PvP gear, which were identical to the rare PvP sets obtainable through Honor. I say philosophically because by the time these item sets became available to players, it was too late. Starting Arenas at that point would find players matched up against other players wearing epic gear from the past seasons. In fact, wearing such dated gear only served to mark the player as easy targets.
Gear progression
I appreciate Blizzard's efforts in making craftable PvP gear, mostly available at Level 78 in preparation for Level 80 Battlegrounds and Arenas. I think it will help a lot of players get a start in Wrath of the Lich King endgame PvP, but at the same time, I believe they'll very quickly be discarded as players obtain PvP Honor and Arena gear. Kalgan likens the rare level Savage Gladiator items to Heroic dungeon rewards. The flaw in that analogy is that there is technically a chronological limit to accruing Arena points.
Even though Kalgan points out that the points required to purchase the items is low -- from 175 Arena points for wands and relics to 700 points for main or two-handed weapons -- you can only get Arena points once a week. No matter how many Arena matches you play, you will only ever get a weekly payout. The Arena PvP system naturally limits your progression. On the other hand, you can run any number of Heroics a day with RNG the only barrier to obtaining your desired item. The Battlegrounds Honor system would have been a closer, albeit still imperfect, comparison.
Blizzard views high Arena ratings as the equivalent of 25-man raids, which is a simplistic but inevitable philosophy. There needs to be a progression within the PvP system beyond the seasons, giving players something to aspire for and pursue. Arenas are a good barometer for progression simply because it has a rating system. Kalgan explains that a similar rating system for the Battlegrounds that measure's an individual player's skill would be difficult to implement.
Arenas as being necessary
The question was why the Savage Gladiator set required any Arena points at all. Kalgan responded that there needed to be something for players who rate 1500 or below to play for. He then explains that "requiring" Arena play was no different from other aspects of the game which players are seemingly required to participate in for them to excel. He contends that some Arena enthusiasts might dislike the Battlegrounds -- a near unthinkable scenario in my experience -- but are required to play it for the boots, bracers, and belt pieces.
In a later response, Kalgan shoots down the contention that Arenas were created for the purpose of professional competition (eSports). He says that this is irrelevant from a business standpoint, something I tend to believe. eSports have always been shaky from a business perspective, and a good majority of the WoW community doesn't even pay attention to what's going on in professional scene. If anything, eSports are a marketing expense, and not even one that's targeted at the paying market -- some pro players have stopped playing the live realms altogether. With the vitriol often spewed in the comments section here at WoW Insider, it's apparent to me that some players don't even like Arenas. So I trust Kalgan when he says that Arenas as an eSport endeavor is a mere "cool side-effect" of the format.
Arenas are another aspect of the PvP gameplay in WoW, and I personally appreciate the fact that it's there. There are tons of PvE aspects to the game, from regular quests to 5-mans to raids. In fact, aside from the Battlegrounds, Arenas, and pitifully few World PvP objectives, everything about WoW revolves around PvE. As a PvP enthusiast, I greatly appreciate that Blizzard is expanding the PvP aspect of the game, particularly with Wrath of the Lich King's Lake Wintergrasp.
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