Hello there.
I thought it to be an issue loading at all.
However I can accept the alpha and create a new character. However I cannot load a previous character. The loading bar just spins indefinitely. I’m not sure yet if it is just the old characters or even new ones I just made. I will test and report back later.
I was able to load a new character but I cannot ‘begin’ the character creation after choosing a name and portrait.
Hello! Thank you so much for the report. There appears to be a widespread issue affecting new and old characters. The team is looking into it now! Myself or another of our team will update here when it has been fixed.
I deleted my old character that had a bug in him, so that I had no characters, and then when I went to create a new character, the Begin button remains grey.
I have entered a Name, selected a portrait, and the level is 1.
Same here. I can reopen him if i save him but I cannot ‘BEGIN’ because it is greyed out.
First time hopping in and beginning to play around with the tool, and two primary issues have popped up.
Firstly, load times are very long when creating a new character. Sometimes takes several minutes or a refresh to agree to the pop-up acknowledgement that appears.
Second, once I make it in I’m unable to progress past the first stage of selecting character name, level, and portrait. The begin button remains gray and unable to be selected.
Super excited to continue testing and breaking more things, but looks like I have to take a pause for now!
OK, I can start my character again.
Now if you would fix the bug with wizards not being able to select their school. 
The issue should be resolved, but if any of you continue to be unable to load your characters please let us know! Thanks again, everyone. 