I like the fact that your standard combat feats are not available at 1st level. There has always been arguments in the past about whether feats really should be divided in half between "combat" and "non-combat" options and that the game would give you places during leveling to take both. That way players can take what they think of as the more "flavorful" feats for characterization that are not just boosting your standard combat method.
Seems to me the 1st level feats are their way of slightly incorporating that idea. Only have those feats that are to widen your character concept to do things you don't already do, rather than heighten your concept by making how you normally choose to attack even better. If you are going to be a polearm combatant... why do you need to be a polearm Master at 1st level? Why can't you just use a polearm for three levels as-is, and therefore have something to strive for to reach 4th? That's the way I look at it.
Seems to me the 1st level feats are their way of slightly incorporating that idea. Only have those feats that are to widen your character concept to do things you don't already do, rather than heighten your concept by making how you normally choose to attack even better. If you are going to be a polearm combatant... why do you need to be a polearm Master at 1st level? Why can't you just use a polearm for three levels as-is, and therefore have something to strive for to reach 4th? That's the way I look at it.