I can't imagine that they won't include some mechanism to allow characters to be created at higher levels, to facilitate forming parties in multiplayer. It could be a thing where you still create a level 1 character, but as soon as you join a group with a higher level character everyone is brought up to that level. That mechanic is already in the game. It happens whenever you leave a character at camp for a while. Next time they join your party you have to level them till they match you, which could be 1 to 3 levels. The same mechanic could be used for player characters in multiplayer. But they probably have other things that are more pressing to work on right now.
Why can't you imagine that? The early game is balanced for low level characters. It would be quite difficult to try and scale the entire game (encounter size/type, enemy skills/spells, NPC stuff) to match variable levels, given the immense complexity of D&D.
