Most of the character classes in SR4 start out a little less awesome. In SR2, and even in SR3, it was possible to start out the gate as a former UCAS Navy Seal with his own helicopter. In SR4, you're lucky to have one skill that you're really good at, good luck getting multiple things that you're good at.
The upper limit is still the same- mages with centering, anchoring, masking- those dudes are going to rip your face off and dance around in your skin, and there's almost nothing you can do about it- but you don't start off a stone's throw from omnipotence, you're more like a long few days of hiking away.
I do appreciate the slower start for SR4, because there's less of a drop-off between people who know how to make a specialized character and new players just starting out. A little bit less of a learning curve, as it were. Or more, depending on how you look at it.
To make up for the slower pace of the game, and the longer timeline of PBP, I'm planning to 'make it rain' karma. No more only one per six months, or six per adventure- but an F-ton of karma, so that your characters progress at a rate that won't be described as 'glacial.'
- kv