aeonsim

Thinking about it some more I really do like the way this beta has been planned. All classes are present + mechanics and it's set in a small non-spoiler (main story anyway) region that looks to be fairly combat heavy. This is going to be excellent for getting a feel for how the different classes play and the different options for building a character. You should be able to literally build a character then run it across a couple of maps then start fighting it's going to make it really easy to get a feel for each class and the different types of builds you can use for each with out getting stuck dealing with the same bit of story again and again till your sick of it (Starting dungeon in BG2 any one?).

Wizard, Cipher, Rogue, Druid, Ranger. Wizard and Cipher are definitely 1st & 2nd the next three could be in any order.

It seems like a reasonable amount of content to me (especially considering some full games aren't much longer than 5hours these days). As for the beta tag I think it's fair description while it's not all the content and thus bugs out side this region will be missed it's an excellent way to test out the engine, the classes, mechanics and the combat in great depth. I suspect a lot of people are going to play though these quests with just about every class combination they can manage which will give obsidian and excellent feel for the balance, the engine and allow a lot of discussion around how the classes and mechanics feel. Beta is a very ambiguous term these days I but it is a fair descriptor for this, the engine is or should be near complete as are the mechanics and we will be testing them. Note for those of you who are complaining about only having 3-5 hours are you really only going to play through using one class for your main character? If note then really it's Nx3-5 hours and if you try all 11 classes and some other combos like trying to solo it or trying the Ironman mode your going to end up spending a lot more than 5 hours in this!

Nice, have you listened to any of the original Witcher music? It had some really nice pieces with possibly more of a Eastern European style to them was a nice change and addition to the usual RPG music.