Warlords Arena Season 1 (or Arena Season 16) is a PvP season that began three weeks after the launch of Warlords of Draenor, on December 2nd, 2014.[1] It ended when patch 6.2.0 was released[2]. The season lasted for 29 weeks.
Initially, PvE gear was capped at 690 item level in instanced PvP. The best gear from PvE content at the time was item level 691 when warforged (for an additional +6 item levels above the base 685 item level), with additional potential for tertiary stats and sockets (see e.g. Highmaul loot).
Following player complaints of PvE gear being BiS in PvP content the cap was reduced to item level 680 with the release of Patch 6.1.0 (week 14 of the season)[5].