PoE2: Early Access or Paid Release in Disguise?

Calling PoE2 free-to-play while charging $30 for early access is like saying that a new Star Wars movie is free just because it’ll eventually air on TV someday. Sure, it’s technically true, but that doesn’t change the fact that most people are going to pay to see it now.

GGG knows what they are doing. They are treating early access as a full release, cashing in on hype while slapping a $30 price tag on what's supposed to be free-to-play, and lets be honest, this isn't about supporting, it’s about about maximizing the revenue.

Free-to-play should mean something and this early access is nothing more than a double-dip in the players wallets. First with paid access and then by charging for stash tabs and other essential purchases, all while hiding behind semantics and deceptive marketing tactics.

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As expected, criticism of dishonest monetization gets dismissed with tired clichés like "get a job" or "stop being cheap". But here is the thing: If the early access price were 10x higher, lets say $300/$4800, would you still defend it? Probably not. And if the price makes a difference on your stance, then you’re already conceding that the issue isn’t about being cheap, it’s about fairness and reasonable practices.

Dismissing valid criticism with "you don’t have to play" or pointing to worse offenders is just like sticking your fingers in your ears and singing la la la la la. Bad practices thrive when people normalize them or shrug them off, and you’re not only excusing it, you’re encouraging it to get worse over time.

So calling out this early access for what it really is, a pay-to-play game, isn’t about being cheep. It’s about expecting fairness from the game that markets itself as a top tier free-to-play experience, but in reality is just a paid game in disguise.

This early access is obviously engineered as a hyped up FOMO sale where the actual "free-to-play" game doesn't even exist and may never exist. It's honestly ridiculous when you think about it.

Just so we're clear here. The previous like... 10 leagues have been functional beta testing for POE2. So if you've been playing POE then you know what you're going to get with POE2. If you're a long time POE customer you do get in for free. Then if you're a long time customer and you buy any of the new core packs you can get a few keys to give away, and that is why on the path of exile 2 page it says

"Your account does not have access to Path of Exile 2 Early Access. Bribe a friend who has a spare key or purchase now."

The number of keys they're giving out and selling through is enough to inundate the servers for day 1 or day 2 or day 3. I can't guarantee it but I anticipate there will be more waves of keys to be given away as the beta progresses. You're not paying for access. You're paying for EARLY access.

If you want access to the game when it releases on Dec 6, then you have to obtain a Key for entry. Like a wonka ticket. If you don’t wish to support the company monetarily in any fashion at all you’ll have to get a key or wait for the GENERAL ADMISSION which comes at a later date. Not sure about disguising or any tin foil hat theories that GGG wants your money. Of course they want your support, but general admission comes out next year is what they’re planning and yes that’s free.

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ShamelessWhiteknight#7976 wrote:

Calling PoE2 free-to-play while charging $30 for early access is like saying that a new Star Wars movie is free just because it’ll eventually air on TV someday. Sure, it’s technically true, but that doesn’t change the fact that most people are going to pay to see it now.

GGG knows what they are doing. They are treating early access as a full release, cashing in on hype while slapping a $30 price tag on what's supposed to be free-to-play, and lets be honest, this isn't about supporting, it’s about about maximizing the revenue.

Free-to-play should mean something and this early access is nothing more than a double-dip in the players wallets. First with paid access and then by charging for stash tabs and other essential purchases, all while hiding behind semantics and deceptive marketing tactics.

So don't play it. Galaxy brain the marketing goombas at GGG and withhold your cash. You can absolutely play the full game for free when it releases sometime around this time next year, most likely. You will have Won the Wallet Contest and successfully retained all your dollery-doos. Victory: achieved.

'Course, "free to play" isn't supposed to mean "absolutely free at all times for everyone everywhere period." The idea is you play the game for free for a while and if you enjoy it, you drop some of those dollarydoos on cash shop stuff to show your appreciation. It's a "pay what you want" dealie, except the devs continually update the game so you can continue to enjoy it.

I will never understand the fierce animosity people hold towards anyone paying ANYTHING for a 'free to play' title. This idea that not only are the devs absolutely evil forever if they ever offer literally anything for real money, but also any player who buys the cash shop stuff is either also literally evil forever for buying into the scheme or is a brainless sucker for letting themselves get conned. Like...do y'all think F2P games apparate money out of the aether? GGG's gotta make payroll and pay for server costs the same as anybody else. Are their MTX prices kinda ludicrously high? Sure. A single armor skin has no bloody business costing more than a whole-ass new game. But they're not nearly so bad as a whole lot of other high-profile F2P games where you can't really get anywhere at all without ponying up the dosh. Good bloody luck playing Genshin without forking the scratch for More Pulls.

If you think GGG is really being so malicious as all that, don't buy into it. But you then forfeit your right to carp about the game being withheld from you. It is not. You have exactly the same option as everyone else - wait for the F2P full release or harvest some wallet lettuce for the privilege of early access.

We all knew the score for months before the stream. This is not some bait-and-switch bombshell announcement.

Nope. The game is not being released Dec. 6th.

It's a portion of the game, and it's subject to change. It's a beta. Charging admission to the beta is one of the few ways that a free-to-play game can have some control over the amount of players in their beta, which could otherwise be overwhelmed.

When the game is eventually released, it will be free for everybody. There's nothing shady or unseemly about any of this.

OP, Ive been saying the same thing for months but tryhards come out and say the game is free. Its like they are choosing not to see the $480 price tag we've already paid or the $30 people are going to pay.

BTW, I know its been said that it can take a few days for the account to be approved for EA, still waiting over here.

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ShamelessWhiteknight#7976 wrote:

Calling PoE2 free-to-play while charging $30 for early access is like saying that a new Star Wars movie is free just because it’ll eventually air on TV someday. Sure, it’s technically true, but that doesn’t change the fact that most people are going to pay to see it now.

GGG knows what they are doing. They are treating early access as a full release, cashing in on hype while slapping a $30 price tag on what's supposed to be free-to-play, and lets be honest, this isn't about supporting, it’s about about maximizing the revenue.

Free-to-play should mean something and this early access is nothing more than a double-dip in the players wallets. First with paid access and then by charging for stash tabs and other essential purchases, all while hiding behind semantics and deceptive marketing tactics.

Absolute nonsense. I still do not understand how they can keep this game operating without charging from everybody. This is their well deserved pay back for their hard work.

I wish there were more games of this level of quality coming out for $30.

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ShamelessWhiteknight#7976 wrote:

Calling PoE2 free-to-play while charging $30 for early access is like saying that a new Star Wars movie is free just because it’ll eventually air on TV someday. Sure, it’s technically true, but that doesn’t change the fact that most people are going to pay to see it now.

GGG knows what they are doing. They are treating early access as a full release, cashing in on hype while slapping a $30 price tag on what's supposed to be free-to-play, and lets be honest, this isn't about supporting, it’s about about maximizing the revenue.

Free-to-play should mean something and this early access is nothing more than a double-dip in the players wallets. First with paid access and then by charging for stash tabs and other essential purchases, all while hiding behind semantics and deceptive marketing tactics.

It's more like pay to watch half of the new Star Wars twice in slightly differently cut versions before most others will be able to watch the final product or wait until the release of the finished movie at a cinema near you and GET FREE ENTRY.

Oh my God, I hate posts like this.
Early Access is NOT a release... You don't have to play now.

Your example with Star Wars movie is just illogical and stupid. The game IS NOT COMPLETE. This is basically beta testing for those who want to support the game and take part in it. If you don't want to then just wait until it releases.

We won't even keep our characters to use in Standard. They will have their own "Early Access League".

If you don't want to pay $30 then just put the game on ignore and act like it's not there. Wait until we help GGG with the bugs, test and improve the game, and come back to play it FOR FREE when it actually releases.