So apparently tournaments and markets lock high tier behind player level, meaning that even if you do dozens of tournaments starting off you aren't going to get shit and the only way to get higher tier gear at the start is to fight lords or mercenary bands on the field. What the fuck.
If you want to test it yourself, make a new character and do five to six tournaments and check every market on your loop to look at their gear, then import a high level character and watch how fast all that shitty gear disappears and how much better the arena drops get.