Is their any progression carried over from EA to release?

I bought the game a few months ago and love it but im a progression type of player(why else play an RPG?) and just heard that early access progression in no way transfers to the full release.

I didn't understand what early access meant and assumed it basically meant you have to pay to gain access to the game before official release but would ultimately be in Standard League on release.

Does anyone with knowledge on the subject able to confirm the details of transition?

From the early access announcement https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3587981 regarding characters:

Will there be wipes during Early Access?
No, there will not be a wipe. We will do new leagues but none of your characters will be wiped, they will just go to a league called Early Access (so they will never be in Standard). In some cases characters in old leagues might be somewhat broken by balance changes though. After launch the "Early Access" characters will still exist.

Nothing further has been stated as yet. Do bear in mind that full release date is still some time away.

Edit: The characters that we first created are in a league named "Standard", since the launch of the Dawn of the Hunt league.

I don't see any issue with our EA toons being joined with the Full Release Standard, once it is seperable from the F R E S H lunatics.

Any supporter packs and forum supporter tags you earned by purchasing mtx supporter packs will carry over. Also, your stash tabs, etc will carry over, too!! The biggest one is that all your experience carries over directly. I mean the experience you earned as a player, learning the game during early access.

Not a bad deal if you ask me :)

I'm excited for v1.0