Is over $1,000 in support packs enough for PoE2 Beta Access?

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WaywornExile wrote:

It's unlikely to be a money-spent thing.

It is very likely it will be a money-spent thing, just like in the past. 500$ lifetime spendings is instant beta access, a small supporter pack for instant beta access (my bet is on 30$) and then they'll also allow you to sign up for beta key invites.

Source: trust me bro

"Instant beta access" in like 5th wave of invites, just a bit before letting everyone in.

I wonder why "healthy indifference" is so seemingly beyond the grasp of those who have either never experienced something or fail to accept that something outside of their own inherently biased ideology.

D4 seems to loom larger than it really should, and those who have given it its due and moved on are likely a little confused by this. It is neither amazing nor terrible. It is an almost hilariously average ARPG, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows how Blizzard have operated from WoW onwards. Average for Blizzard is a win. Average is where the bell curve peaks.

Average baffles elitists who lack the self awareness to know that's what they are. Me, I am 100% a reading elitist. I wouldn't touch the top of the bell curve for books, ever. But I don't go babbling on about how "washed up" YA authors are or how awful it is that certain actually dead writers keep publishing new stuff that sells by the millions. If they weren't successful they'd stop. Without average, you can't have above or below average.

Ironically this only works if you are in it for something other than the money, which I believe GGG certainly are and Blizzard likely are not. So if GGG don't seem to give much of a shit about the average of the bell curve on which they occupy the more "above" portion, why do their players?


I mean, the poor OP just wanted to know how to get into the PoE2 beta but of course someone had to bring Blizzard/D4 up. I swear casual players of D4 did the one thing avowed Exiles can't: they discovered just how unremarkable D4 is and moved on to other games, occasionally checking back to see if anything interesting is on the schedule. This is healthy!

Derailing a pretty straightforward query on a forum dedicated to a different game? Not healthy.

Otoh it's not like anyone has the answer for the OP so I guess it was either let it die or use it for something else.

In any case, D4 is a run of the mill curate egg cosplaying as a faberge egg and lazily dismissed by its ignorant detractors as a rotten one. It's honestly that simple.

Speaking of simple, getting into the PoE2 beta will be too. Unless GGG have somehow forgotten who pays the bills, which I reckon they have not.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

I wonder why "healthy indifference" is so seemingly beyond the grasp of those who have either never experienced something or fail to accept that something outside of their own inherently biased ideology.

This is a problem I see in discorse all the time, things must either be the worst ever or the best thing that's ever been made. Discussion tends towards extremism, particularly in online talk, and the middleground is often forgotten along with moderate speak being read with much more emotion than a writer might intended.

The number of times in a show review I've said "It's fine" and been jumped on for calling it bad when that's not what 'fine' means. AAA discussion is generally quite bad compared to similar subjects, in part that gamers as a culture are among the most toxic around, and niche gamers are the absolute most potent.

i think people who post on the poe forums because they actually play poe are quite fine with how healthy it is for them to post their opinions on arpgs here.

Didn't the developers already say that if you purchased a certain amount across your account lifetime that you would automatically gain access to the beta? I could have sworn I heard or read them say that....

Ed: found where I heard it....somewhat indirectly from devs
https://youtu.be/vkySpn3JwXo?t=24

Doesn't specifically mention $, but it does mention activity.

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Northern_Ronin wrote:

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

I wonder why "healthy indifference" is so seemingly beyond the grasp of those who have either never experienced something or fail to accept that something outside of their own inherently biased ideology.

This is a problem I see in discorse all the time, things must either be the worst ever or the best thing that's ever been made. Discussion tends towards extremism, particularly in online talk, and the middleground is often forgotten along with moderate speak being read with much more emotion than a writer might intended.

The number of times in a show review I've said "It's fine" and been jumped on for calling it bad when that's not what 'fine' means. AAA discussion is generally quite bad compared to similar subjects, in part that gamers as a culture are among the most toxic around, and niche gamers are the absolute most potent.

My partner is an expat from the US, and is distinctly aware of her culture's proclivity for exaggeration and hyperbole. As such she is one of the most cynical people I have ever met. She doesn't just resist hype - - she mistrusts it. As one might expect from a big supporter of PoE from the start, I am much more susceptible to early impressions and critical takes. So we kinda balance out but also kinda cancel too. She was wrong about Top Gun Maverick's early media, and I went along with her negative take because, eh, I live with her and was mildly curious at best. I am glad she was wrong but it's unfortunately rare. When she says "well that looks like it'll be shit", I wouldn't put money against it. :)

Still, I have recently started pushing back because sometimes it's fine to get hyped and feel the joy of anticipation. There is a middle ground between being chronically dismissive and a total sucker. Healthy indifference might as well be it - - you don't really care either way, but if it turns out good, cool. If not, oh well. Not like you spent hundreds if not thousands of hours making it. In grown up terms, I would say "I am looking forward to that" is a sane, stable stance.

"Fine" is an odd term after consumption of media. It can come across as unengaged or vague, but only because we are in the age of 7/10 being considered average, 5/10 being oof, and 3/10 being basically worthless. Some of my favourite movies are in the 2-5/10 range on Rottentomatoes - - which means 2-5/10 critics also gave them a thumbs up. Not a bad ratio imo. I am far from healthily indifferent about things I love, regardless of popularity or acclaim.

The problem is when people are far from healthily indifferent about things they hate and about which they actually don't know enough to fairly judge.

I will never, ever be healthily indifferent about PoE, but I also don't hate it and feel I am not entirely ignorant to what it's about and what it represents. I don't feel a need to slag D4 or any other game as a response to how I feel about PoE. If anything, I think doing that deeply undermines what makes PoE so good. It stopped being a Diablo clone long ago, possibly only because Diablo stopped being Diablo long ago.

D4 is fine, and it's fine being fine. Each update makes it a bit finer. PoE was never and never will be fine, and it wouldn't be fine being fine. Each update pushes it further away from being merely "fine".

Poe2...I dunno. Crossbow to head, I would say it'll be GGG's attempt at their idea of very fine. Lord knows it'd be the mainstream hit PoE was always too clever to achieve. I see nothing wrong with any of this.

PS There is nothing "cringy" or wrong in referring to people who play PoE as Exiles. Bex herself did it quite a lot in various videos, and it accurately describes not just the in-game character but what a lot of us felt in the early days: literally Exiled from Diablo's Sanctuary. That aside, simple titles for players of any given game is far from unusual, and often given by the devs themselves. If anything, I would argue it's a potent unifying force. Consider:

Dragons Dogma: Arisen
Elden Ring: Tarnished (or Maidenless, whichever is more appropriate)
WH40k Inquisitor: Inquisitor
Skyrim: Dragonborn
FFXIV: Warrior of Light (derived from, well, FF1)
Elite Dangerous: Commander
Warframe: Tenno
No Man's Sky: Traveller, sometimes Interloper
Diablo 3: Nephalem
Diablo 4: Wanderer


And so on. It's just shorthand really. I neither came up with "Exile" nor decided it can represent a certain tribal exclusivity in mainstream gaming circles. Honestly, you'd think that'd be a point of pride given how frequently Exiles look down at other... Lesser games and their casual pleb players. ^_^

^

I wouldn't put too much stock in a "one guy" take on Exiles as a term of identity. Plenty of games do this, whether it's Tenno in Warframe or Guardians in Destiny. Often times coming straight from the developer, like is true in this case with PoE, as part of a marketing strategy to drive a sense of shared experience.

Ironically as I see it, actually typing out what is essentially "that's cringe bro" is far more "cringe" as a retort. Its clearly driven more out of personal embarrassment or uncomfortability with a simple descriptor, which overall, is quite disconnected.

Tbh I laughed when I read that. Perhaps it's generational, I have to admit, but I was like "Really? That's what you wanted to convey here? This helps make a point"? It reeks of seeking validation, which while not a new concept, is exacerbated in today's younger generation imo. Perhaps it's an overwhelming desire to want to be accepted or included in a group (Twitch is a really good example of this), but that discussion definitely veers us way off topic.

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Ulsarek wrote:

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WaywornExile wrote:

It's unlikely to be a money-spent thing.

It is very likely it will be a money-spent thing, just like in the past. 500$ lifetime spendings is instant beta access, a small supporter pack for instant beta access (my bet is on 30$) and then they'll also allow you to sign up for beta key invites.

Source: trust me bro

To be clear, I was referring to entry thresholds (per the post above mine).

I don't believe that money-spent is going to act as a beta funnel. Instead, GGG will look to seasoned players to locate and exploit all manner of game bugs and unintended synergies.

Will high-spenders be rewarded with early-beta access regardless? Sure. But it's not going to act as an entry threshold. I would call them the exception.

In early beta—the most crucial stage of testing—I believe that the only imposed threshold will be active time-played. A committed 5000-hour-Dave is more valuable to GGG's mission than a lukewarm 200-hour-Keith.

GGG aren't going to pussyfoot around, hoping that Keith will haphazardly stumble upon complex and compounded issues with the game. Conversely, GGG knows the importance of Dave. Dave will break the game down at every level, using his knowledge and experience to expose issues that need fixing ahead of late beta.

Keith's time will come later. Perhaps he will discover a misplaced pixel in Act 2, or maybe he'll highlight a few spelling mistakes in quest text.

Jokes aside, I don't see a scenario in which GGG doesn't vet early-beta applicants based on their value. It's the smart thing to do, and GGG are a very smart company.

Pretty sure it'll be enough, also think they might put beta access in one or multiple of the new supporter packs they show today