Item timer thingy

I'm sure there are posts about this already, but I'm far too lazy to look for them. I played the beta for the first time yesterday, and I really don't understand the point of the 5-10 second timer that people have to pick up select items before others can. The time is so short, why bother? It seems to me, that GGG might as well just give people those items, similar to D3 or TL2, or give everyone the same items rather than putting a 5-10 second timer on some items for people to pick them up.

It starts to grow on you after a while. I enjoy the mechanic, it's the best of both worlds.

The timer 'reserves' the item for you for the amount of time it would take your character to physically walk to the item, with the intention of giving you a chance to pick up the item even if you're all the way across the screen when it drops.

And you are correct: there are multiple threads on looting already, like http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/392 and http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/39776/highlight/.