Proliferation of charts made this easier. I was impressed at how compelling some of the class and race options had become. The last chose a gnome, which also had been reworked and had some really interesting perks which she took advantage of by giving the character the Alchemy skill. Everyone else is too enamoured with the high level powers of their first class to switch out, a testament to how well they've managed to balance the options available. Just because I was anxious to try out the combat stuff, I arranged for a fight in the first session.
Close quarters combat against orcs.
As is my habit, I stacked the odds against the party in order to provide a challenge and they lived up to it. Combat went fast. I really liked the options for monster creation, I must say. The group of orcs they were trying to clear from the keep had an adept, two warriors, and a wererat-orc that gave them a good run for their money. The adept in particular was a major bother.