Hello Mr Shoulders in the 1500's

I'm not entirely sure what it is, but this season, even though it's over a month in, I've seen an overwhelming number of full season 3 (shoulders) players in the 15-1700's. Is the general sentiment that grinding to 2050 for the S4 weapons is too hard so people have given up once they've hit 1700 or has the PvP arena population dwindled because of the new rating requirements and your average Joe not being able to get to 1700? Granted, my 2's partner (S4 sword rogue) and I must have tweaked off some teams in blues in the 1500's, but the number of full S3 Sword Warriors and their pet windfury Shamans that we met in the 1700's was just ridiculous.

I like the challenge, but to be honest, I didn't expect to put that much effort in the 1500's as I did last night, fighting a full S3 Warrior/Druid as an Honor Epic'd Rogue/Mage.