Guild bank is always filled with complete garbage though, only worthwhile thing in it is like 4links and shit, later 5-6links with bad bases. It's a lot more efficient to ask for something, people are pretty helpful that way but if you count on the guild bank for gear you're not going to get a whole lot unless you're after the 1alch uniques and (mostly bad) leveling rares. I guess some vaal skills too sometimes.
Starting a bit late is generally good if you're not a super fast leveler to begin with though, because while you don't benefit from the early economy, you can buy stuff a lot cheaper a few days after launch, especially leveling uniques and stuff like that.