PoE 2: Are Early Access characters doomed be useless?

Hey all,

I don't play Online ARPGS that much. Help me understand this:

According to the EA FAQ, once the game officially releases, your Early Access character will be moved to a so called "Early Access Realm" and might even be bricked by then. Does that mean that every progress I make during Early Access will be gone?

I like the idea of having a main character and PoE seems to have an Eternal Realm for people like me, but Early Access characters won't even be there, right?

Is there anything (besides experience with how the game works and achievements) that will be kept from your EA char once the game releases? Any sense of progression? Or is this technically a server wipe?

Thanks in advance

You will keep your game knowledge which is by far the most important thing. You won't get to play that character on release but the people who play the EA will progress much faster when the game comes out and be able to make their own builds. There might be some sort of cosmetic reward for playing but it hasn't been announced yet so my hopes aren't too high.

Knowledge is the most useful thing in this game by far so don't worry too much about your character/items. And don't feel forced to play early access, it's for people who are serious about the game and want to get a head start.

Also it was stated that you'll keep your early access character but you'll only be able to play it on the early access server. I don't know if that matters to you at all but it is nice that it won't be wiped at least.

Thank you! One last question: Trading and item sharing from stash between characters is only possible in the same League or in the Eternal Realm, right?

Yeah pretty much. As far as I understand it EA characters will be kept on their own isolated 'eternal' EA league that won't be updated after EA ends besides to keep it functional.