I have to say, the vehemence of the discussion around this topic screams, "They should have character generation in the Starter Set!" Not doing so is only going to alienate a bunch of people, and "aimed at newbs" or not, I would think that WotC wants to sell product.
Now, rpgpundit's words are great and all, and I'm glad that it sounds like there will be some kind of character generation option from the very beginning, but if it's not an online tool, why isn't it in the box?
If it is an online tool, that's fine; but since, at least for the first month or so, it sounds likely to be the only option, I'm not happy with the notion. You absolutely should be able to play D&D with paper, pencil, dice and box or books, and I do include chargen as part of playing the game. To me, character generation is as fundamental to D&D as elves, Strength scores and hit points. I find its omission from the box people are supposed to use to start playing to be baffling and distressing. I just don't see the sense in it. But of course, if WotC would actually tell us what they're doing, I might change my tune. At the moment, two months from release, I'm feeling, for the first time, reluctant to purchase that Starter Set on day 1... which was, until the no-pc-gen news hit, an absolutely sure buy for me.
What