D&D 3E/3.5 Will 4E combat actually run slowly...slower than 3E?

[BlackMoria]

Agreeing with Hong and Campbell - it seems pretty likely that NPCs will not be built as PCs, but as monsters: assign a role, assign a challenge level, and then read off the relevant stats for that NPC.

It could be like the villain classes from Iron Hero. Pick a villain archtype, check the level you want and instant villain in less than 5 minutes, even if it is a 20th level one.