Is it going to be important being geared for SB?
My Bard is in the 230s and I don't know if I'll be fine or need to be higher because at the moment I've been focusing on leveling a few classes to see if I like them.
You'll be fine. They will always need to take newcomers into consideration for their extension and they will never expect them to grind their gear once they reach lv 60 before starting SB. HW's dungeons don't have any ilv requirement because of that, I except SB doing the same.