Will Season 3 non-set items stay available?

Yes, the Season 3 honor items will still be available for purchase without a rating requirement after Season 4 starts.

There will be two sets of "non-set" items once Season 4 begins. The Season 4 honor items (boot/belt/bracer/etc) some of which will require a rating, and the Season 3 items (boot/belt/bracer/etc) which still won't require any rating.

Just to sum up, when Season 4 begins:

Season 1 honor set: Removed

Season 2 arena set: Moved to honor, no rating requirement

Season 3 non-set honor items: Staying
Season 3 arena set: Arena rating and cost requirements lowered

Season 4 non-set honor items: Added with rating requirement
Season 4 arena set: Added to Arena with increased rating requirement

Q u o t e:
I don't understand the justification for arena rating requirements for BG gear. That's just silly.

The non-set items are there to fill out the arena sets, they're essentially placed there specifically so that arena players have a reason to participate in other aspects of the game. We want to see their faces around, we don't want them just standing on top of the battlemasters all day.

So, with them being arena items intended to fill out the current top-end arena set, and our increase to rating requirements all around, it's actually very logical.

Does it suck that I can't run BG's and get the best boot/belt/bracers any more? Yes, yes it does, but I'm a reasonable person and it's a reasonable change. I'm still going to cry a little bit though... don't judge me.

Q u o t e:
Sweet, i cant wait till everything takes a certain arena rating to do.....like maybe a dungeon ....or to enter a certain zone....how bout we have talents that can only be accessed with high arena rating....

Heh, that's just a bit dramatic.

Q u o t e:
So basically Battlegrounds - and honor rewards - exist only to round out arenas, the real pvp of WoW? That's... pretty terrible. If you all at Blizzard think that's a good idea, I don't know what to tell you.

Shwa? No there's still a full set of honor items that are and will be available, and that's certainly a viable part of the game for people to participate in if they want to. We're just talking about the Season 4 boot/belt/bracer having a rating requirement.

The issue is the arena system doesn't innately encourage any additional types of game play. The most you would need to do to participate in arenas is to make some money for repairs. So we could essentially run into the issue of the top PvPers, the best and most decked out players, just sitting next to a battlemaster 24/7 (which still happens quite a bit). But, by peppering items around we can at least draw people into different aspects of the game for a while.

Q u o t e:
It's forcing people to not only arena, but get high ratings to get new gear at all.

No one is forced to play in the arena, but yes we do want the rewards to require a certain amount of difficulty to obtain. They're very nice items.

Q u o t e:
It's saying that people can get minor upgrades over their current main items, can't get decent non-set items at all

Every season-to-season upgrade is fairly minor, and are you saying the Season 3 non-set items aren't decent?

Q u o t e:
and have to start out sub-season 3 agains people who will have their entire season 4 set on the first day from points they save from season 3.

You can't buy the entire set with the point cap. But regardless of that, if you're coming late to the game or just aren't good in the arena, yes, you'll need to compete, get better, and earn the items.

Q u o t e:
Meanwhile raiders can get Season 4 non-set peices without PVPing for a millisecond from your new vendors on the new island.

No, they can get Veteran's items though (Season 2), and they still have to play and work to build up those badges.

Q u o t e:
I find it to be a mildly sick joke that BG items will now require arena rating, meaning that people who enjoy BGs, but not arenas, well get to enjoy getting their faces smashed in PVP by arena players, who already have higher quality gear, and now will be the only ones with access to the top quality BG gear. You'd think BG gear would be available primarily, you know, to people who participate most in BG's.

What a waste of time.

So you're saying that right now pure battleground players are able to compete with the highest end geared arena players because they have access to the Season 3 boot/belt/bracer?

Right, anyway, we could just move those items to the arena and be done with it, but as I said we want arena players to show their faces around a bit. Without having some items worth obtaining for them outside of the arena system some of them never would.

And anyway, the ilvl differences from season to season are pretty small, having the Season 3 but not the Season 4 really isn't THAT huge where you're suddenly going to be able to take on a fully geared arena player.

What it boils down to is "this sucks, I want those items" and I get that, but I think it's easy to step back and rationalize why it's being done, and even if you don't like it because new items are fun, understand why.

Q u o t e:
This change was not to increase BG participation by serious arena players, it was to limit grear access for casual pvpers. Don't act like we're as stupid as you pretend to be.

No, it wasn't, they already do play battlegrounds for those items, obviously, they're there for them.

The change was to make them more difficult to obtain. That's it.