They're available for purchase at an exorbitant rate. If you have one of each element affinity per armour slot and then each character, that's 45 peices of armour, assuming you only stick to the minimum. The whole point of the new armour was to allow flexibility and different setups for different activities. The cost of upgrading and masterworking defeats teh object of the change. Again, they haven't got the cost of upgrading right. I haven't bothered to masterwork a single item, because its behind a grind and RNG wall.

masterwork armor is for endgame so whats ur point

Why is Masterwork for endgame? Custom armour is so you can define your own playstyle, not just for a small number of activities.

No they are not. Do some math (and remember exotics require 3 shards). Not really viable prices. Consider armor affinities as well in the equation. I already grinded all the enhanced god rolls from raids and dreaming city for 1.0. Had all the mod combinations I wanted to have, so I don’t think askimg MORE sources to get armour 2.0 to have same experience is too much to ask.