I do not know about you but I rather not use huge amount of time to play games...
Being in ALPHA let you:
A. You do know system requirements. If not happy you can upgrade hardware.
B. Test gameplay (though currently limited to not all classes and only Normal difficulty level) and for sure when full release comes there is not learning curve so much you already know how to play and since early access finishing whole game will not take so long since you know already some parts how to finish them.
C. Classes test different classes and races and builds.
D. Give suggestions and feedback on the forums.
Now I do hope they would release a bit more classes (and stuff like all Players Handbook Cleric Domains) before full release... but regarding level naah I do not need that now in full release there are more levels.
Well what you feel Normal is to easy like me? I am sure they will release different difficulty level the Alpha is on normal there is likely to be Easy, Normal, Hard and Nightmare as example I do not know how they will name them or how many difficulty levels.
This all being said I hope they release a Patch 4 in February 2021 with more content and not some simple bug fixes only. Disclaimer I do not know when Patch 4 will be released or what it will contain?
While I mostly agree with you, 5e is a system where level 5 is a huge bump up from level 4. It's the level where just about every class begin to get into their own, be it by getting multiple attacks, 3rd level spells or other powerful class features like Uncanny Dodge and Bardic Inspiration on short rest. With the current experience yields, we could pretty easily hit level 5 around the time we go into the Underdark (possibly even a lot sooner).
Because of this, it might be a good idea both to get to know how much more powerful the player's party will be in practice by letting us test it for them and how this impacts the overall difficulty of the Underdark specifically. If the stats they have for the Underdark from our playtesting is based on us being level 4, it might end up all too easy when the game is released and people go there when every one of their characters are significantly stronger.
