Just raging here. I logged in, built my character, very meticulous about the colors and such (as I am in all character creators). Pressed play, and I get "Your SOE station login has timed out. Quit and login again." I do so, and my character is lost. Mildly irrated, but whatever, I'll just go faster next time right? Wrong. I built the same character four times, and got the same message every time. I could only successfuly create a character if I rapidly clicked through everything and mashed on the keyboard to enter a name as quickly as possible. So fuck it.

Yeah, I got timed out the first time I made a character as well.  By the second try I knew what I wanted and where all the pieces were.

It doesn't have to be difficult.

Also I think you can customize your appearance later in-game, but I haven't tried it.

Yes! Do youself a favor and just get into the game with the default look. After the tutorial, you can change your appearence completely at almost any time. No stoopid money-charging barbershops or anything.