And I believe the jury is still out on whether or not you can use those 40 downtime to level up to 9 right off the bat.
If you can, I can't wait for everyone and their brother to show up with 9th level characters barely knowing how all their abilities work, if at all.
If you can't (since the downtime has to be spent "between sessions" and if you're starting at 5 there's no session to be between) people could still show up with a level 5, play one adventure to get to level 6, spend their 50 downtime to get to level 11.
Can't wait for everyone and their brother to show up with 11th level characters barely knowing how all their abilities work, if at all.