A few questions about Blade And Soul

Hi there you bunch of awesome people!
As the thread title suggests, I have a few questions I'm hoping the community can answer. I'm trying to explore as much content as I possibly can before this final www.bladeandsoulgolds.net beta wraps up but only joined this lovely game during Closed Beta4, so I'm still at an early stage of learning.
1. I know accounts will be wiped for the game's actual release, but what about screenshot and saved appearances? Should I make a backup of these files? I spent a lot of time playing around with the character creation system and was able to nail just the right look for the characters I plan on playing, would be a shame if it was all lost in the wipe.
2.This one is a 2 parts question:
a ) If I understand this correctly, NCcoins is currency bought with RL money while hongmoon coins can bns gold be acquired in-game and both can be used to buy stuff from the hongmoon store, correct?
b ) Will extra character slots be purchasable with hongmoon coins?
3. Are there any guides available for the game yet? I'm picking up the basics from playing but a lot still escapes me. I'd like to use the downtime in-between the Closed Beta5 and the actual release to educate myself a little so that I make the buy bns gold right choices as I level. Info on weapon/equipment upgrades, gems, crafting, etc. would be most useful.