I believe thread starter is talking about gear-wise rather than leveling-wise due to mentioning item levels of battle classes.

And yes, as someone that began playing shortly after HW was released, the gear hurdle to craft items from pre-HW to post-HW was pretty insane. I couldn't even think about being able to HQ Heavensward recipes myself until I hit 55, which is when you can purchase new HW crafting gear for relatively cheap that should last you until you cap. Gathering classes had the same issue for me.

I would argue there's another hurdle to craft 1/2/3-star items once you cap, although that has much more to do with the scarcity of the crafting materials (such as demimateria III requiring a higher level of desynthesis in specific classes, etc.) and melding being a requirement rather than anything else.

I found leveling the classes themselves rather easy due to grand company turn-ins, although that method takes time. It becomes even easier when you can consistently HQ items with minimal effort once you get all crafters to the point where you get all the good cross class skills, such as Byregot's Brow from CRP especially.