The community is taking the delay really well. Surprisingly well.
" I'm not a data engineer, so don't quote me. But it would not surprise me in the slightest were a data engineer to tell me that trying to update, integrate, merge and migrate all the account information for multiple games in a way that breaks as little as humanly possible is already incredibly difficult, and would be made dramatically more so if all the data in question was live and running. This feels like the sort of thing they can only do right while the game is offline. Leaving it offline for a few more weeks before release is better than taking it offline once they've let people have it. Nobody likes having their toys taken away, especially if they paid for those toys. it's why they're being extra careful in the first place. Gotta get my Goblin Troupe ready for PoE2 so they can dunk on me whenever I inevitably flub mechanics. Heh. " Companies have to work with what the public perceives as the definition of a thing. People treat Early Access differently than they do a temporary beta; they're paying to access the game early, not just to get curated sneak previews. Yes, some system wipes are likely inevitable, but also they need the mass player data to fine-tune the eventual full launch. How else are they going to figure out how to tweak a player-run economy without any players running the economy? How are they going to know if their endgame is landing with nobody gaming the end? It's not a 'PR move'; it's a case of the developers knowing the limits of internal testing and using a tool at their disposal to try and work around those limits. " Naw. Again - the public perception of early access isn't "this game isn't launched, but you can play it anyways." And frankly, good. If a company is going to take someone's money in exchange for access to a game, the someone deserves access to the game. The game needs to be playable enough to be worth paying for, even if the EA customer should be of the understanding that things will morph and shift as development continues. Early Access isn't a free money hose - you still have to deliver a viable product. Not breaking people's existing stuff is part of being a viable product. | |
"So much this. The people complaining about the delay while not understanding the reasoning behind it, much less the logistical / technical difficulty in performing such a delicate task, probably have no idea what a database is, how a database works and much less what integration / migration processes look like. Especially when you're dealing with massive amounts of data like PoE does, including accounts and the added sensitivity of, - under no circumstance whatsoever -, not being allowed to even have the smallest margin of error. I'm honestly mad impressed that GGG is confident in getting all of this done in three additional weeks. Kudos to them. Delaying to ensure a good launch is a very good decision, something other studios and publishers can learn from. There is a reason GGG is leading the market for this genre. | |
" I repeat: early access is not the launch of the game. Especially not when it was announced that it would be in early access for several months. There are many more ways to handle the MTX and account stuff than to delay early access again. So for me, the choice to delay is a bad one. |
|
|
I think the vast majority here are prudent enough to know that it's far better that they release things when they are ready, not when an arbitrary date is passed. Releasing things they know are broken is not a path we want them going down.
The more More you have, the less Less matters
| |
" What one could do is, for example, develop on a copy of the databases and create all the scripts needed. Then run many tests - again on copies of databases. Then finally when everything works as intended, take early access offline for a couple of hours while the scripts are run on the live database. Afterwards early access is brought back online. No delay neccessary, only a couple of hours of downtime. " Paying for early access was a choice they made. Gating it behind MTX supporter packs was also a choice they made. And the consequence of those choices is that they MUST have integrated the accounts and MTXs on early access availability, otherwise it would not be possible to check which accounts have access. And now there are 'unforseen problems' with accounts / MTXs which causes the delay. Consequences. " It is a choice of GGG to make early access paid. That then comes with consequences, and expectations of those who purchased access. Those could be avoided by simply having, for example, an initial 3 months early access period for free, and then a 3 months paid early access period (which then would contain the full campaign, end game, MTX, account integration, etc). I have not seen a requirement from Steam / Xbox / PlayStation that early access games must come out of early access. There is no requirement as far as I know to actually have a 1.0 release. In that sense early access is most definitely a free money hose. |
|
|
The delay is not a huge deal, the fact that it was announced that close to the deadline was a bit ... non optimal. had they told this 1 month earleir I woudl be way happier regarding my plannings.
|
|
" That sums it up quite nicely I think. In the grand scheme of things, a 3-week delay for the early-access is taken lightly because we are talking about a launch-like event. On leaguestarts, where things are basically settled, the community expects them to be more on time. And whoever thinks this is a PR stunt doesnt understand one bit about PR :D | |
" And the public perception of games that do that is that they are scummy, ugly cash grabs with no real merit as video games that should be avoided by any sensible player. I almost never indulge in early access. I can count the number of early access games I've played on the fingers of one hand - frankly, the only two I can remember offhand are Deep Rock Galactic and Baldur's Gate 3. Path of Exile 2 gets to join that list, but you've precisely nailed the issue many people have with EA, and why Grinding Gear can't afford the sort of slipshod, barely-functional mess of a release you're pushing for - broken, barely-functional Early Access games that are clearly and obviously not ready for any sort of time, let alone primetime, are a definitive sign that one is wasting their money on a product that will never be properly finished. A company that wants to succeed in Early Access has to stop being Early Access at some point. And that means the product needs to be on a trajectory that clearly indicates it's ready to hit the big leagues at some point on a reasonable timeframe. How do you think a bunch of badly broken accounts that cannot access PoE2 at all - and, depending on the integration schema, might no longer be able to access the first game - and people losing hundreds or even thousands of dollars of MTX spend would reflect on the idea of a game that's ready to go after a few months' EA tune-up? | |
|
I'm glad we have some pro game developers here to tell these amateurs at GGG how it should be done.
|
|
|
people that care about poe2 have already waited 5 years so whats 3 more weeks going to do?
lets see how the community will take the 3.26 delay...although most people expect that also if there is no delay, well that will be a pleasant surprise |
|
