One other thing: New players. The game has quite a large discrepancy between someone who is a fresh level 50 (who usually has an iLvl of around 48) and someone whose been in the endgame for quite a while (iLvl probably twice that).
This creates a rather irritating catch 22 for the new player that is STRONGLY alleviated by hunts: They need gear to qualify for dungeons, but for a time they're dead weight to any team they join. This is ESPECIALLY awful for healers and tanks, which are higher gear dependent. Can you imagine doing Brayflox HM with a "fresh" healer/tank and having the same expectations you would have for an experienced one?
And this is a problem that will only get worse as the game goes forward. Having a means to alleviate the process now makes it easier to deal with further down the line. It still takes time to earn the soldiery gear, it just takes LESS time to upgrade it.