For 4e, it helps to think in blocks of four levels.
• level 1: class archetype specialization power (at-will, short rest, long-rest)
• level 2: utility (defend, move, detect), skill (background), cultural power (race, region)
• level 3: class power (at-will, short-rest, long-rest, sometimes extra-attack)
• level 4: feat/ability-score customization
This block repeats for levels 5 to 8, and again 9 to 12, 13 to 16, and up.
This 4-level block is what 4e looks like. (Each 10 level tier in 4e goes: block, block, level 1, cap.) (5e wiggles this block around.) In 4e, at-wills and dailies are assigned at level 1, while encounter powers are assigned at level 3, and utilities are assigned at level 2. However, in the spirit of 5e, it is better to allocate any kind power at these levels, whether at-will, encounter, or daily. This means gaining a new spell at a new spell level might be an atwill cantrip or a spell that refreshes after a short rest or a long rest. This fluidity also makes it easier to assign appropriate powers for a Fighter concept, and so on.
The first level of a character creation tends to be front loaded with extra features. In this case, it helps to think of the character as having already gone thru this block at level zero and earlier, thus has a rudimentary version of this block, plus the new first level in the class. In other words, every level 1 character gets a free feat, as well as three class powers including standard and archetype, noncombat skills, a ‘cultural’ power, and so on.
I would like to see a race or ‘cultural’ power plugged somewhere into this block. So, features from race, subrace, region, or special group, that are powerful can come online at higher levels, such as flight, a special attack, or on. One could use a feat for this, but I would rather leave the feat to be ‘nice’ for truly free choice, and build in this cultural advancement for everyone. Maybe at level 2, when one gets some noncombat feature, one can also gain a cultural power.
Likewise, I would like noncombat skills to continue to develop at higher levels, maybe also at level 2 within the block.