[What will be your first player character?]

I'm definitely going to run a high intellect monk and kick people into walls forever.

 

Past that, I guess a paladin or something?  I don't know, everything seems so boring compared to kicking a dragon's teeth in and leaving it in a crumpled heap of dragon-tears.

[Why I love PoE so far, based on the beta]

I just did my first playthrough as a Skaen Priest Dissident, and it was nice to see it get acknowledged by the quests/dialogue.  Also, I love the non-violent resolutions that are part of every quest; it seems like all the recent RPGs have just gone with mindless fighting as the only option and I really do appreciate the writing effort put into this game.

 

As a side question, exactly how long is the backer beta?  Is it just the three areas on the world map?  I want more, dammit.