Average play time?

I am worried I will spend time on a char that I am not that happy with in the end. What is the average play time to level cap? I have been using a ranger but from the videos I have watched the bows do not fit the faster playstyle I was hoping for. I saw one melee build with speed attacks that looked cool but I am wondering if I am better off with a shadow if I am going to do something like that. I want to do multiple builds I am just wondering how much time each would take on average?

Most likely, you will notice if your character is not up to par by end of act 2, that's around lvl 25-30. This can take as little as 2.5 to 3 hours, although if you go at a leisurely pace it might take more.

For me, I can usually get through Act 1 in one gaming night, and Act 2 on the next, so its 2 days of RL time.

Ok thats reasonable enough, thanks for the help. Looks like i will try be do less exploring and more speed runs til I get more familiar with the skill tree and abilities

I would suggest looking through the class forums for builds. It helped me a lot when building my character.