I don't think the ilevel wall is too bad with the help of hunts and PVP. If anything maybe those aspects just need to be advertised better in game.
I can see how a new player may have missed the daily Centurio hunts while leveling.
To unlock the Ishgard daily hunts you must have already unlocked the ARR daily hunt board which requires hitting Second Lieutenant in your GC. My non-tank alts had to grind seals a bit to hit this rank (the tank had an excess from the adventurer in need bonus from leveling roulette) so someone rushing the story may miss out on it.
For a new player who just hit 60 without much gil or centurio seals and didn't do any potd while leveling PVP is probably the best way to start gearing up. You only need i150 to enter and you can buy i235 pieces with wolf marks while earning tomestones for PVE gear.
4000 wolf marks for an i235 weapon in particular is a great boost.
