@Fabius There have been quite a few major changes to major core mechanics of the game, changes to gear stats, knowlege point progression, and so on. If we were able to keep our characters since Alpha 1, Test 1... alot of the stuff that we could potentially still have would be broken AF.
One of the tests was to test out smelting, legendary creatures and how the new knowledge system worked. Starting with a toon from a previous test, having completely capped knowledge, would have defeated the purpose of 1/2 that test.