@GGG PoE2 Early Access

On November 15th, as per your announcement, we all get access to the new game and we’re all somewhat excited (understatement imo) to try out the new IP.

That said, and as you may have noticed in your announcement thread, there is quite some confusion.

Can you clarify that this will be the full game (albeit a ‘standard’ league) as has been suggested by JR in several interviews?

Can you confirm that this is an ‘open beta’, i.e. anyone can play it?

Could you indicate approximate install sizes for platforms (of course subject to change) please?

Can you ensure that players (especially console ones with the complication of certification added to the fray) get sufficient time to be installed and ready to go at zero-hour on the 15th (you did a great, fantastic job on this for Settlers for the first time ever afaik)?

Many thanks.

An additional thought, it feels (maybe inaccurately) that GGG relies on ‘word of mouth’ advertising.
This big of a release, a new IP, deserves more than just community gossip, game specific content creator chatter etc..
Some advertising campaign (maybe not the cans of fizzy energy drinks others have done but similar) with a public (not game specific) viewership would help significantly imo.

They left it vague on purpose imo to fuel speculation. Two wraps of tin foil and you'll see it too...

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Hammerhorn_Oathsworn wrote:

They left it vague on purpose imo to fuel speculation. Two wraps of tin foil and you'll see it too...

Problem is it might fuel some speculation but more so drives FOMO for those without the above answers, that doesn’t help their objective to get players playing.
Additionally it doesn’t, same as the comment on how they advertise, drive the new games public awareness and hence draw in new players.
They need to be more communicative and advertise beyond ‘word of mouth’ imo

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Timbo Zero wrote:

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Hammerhorn_Oathsworn wrote:

They left it vague on purpose imo to fuel speculation. Two wraps of tin foil and you'll see it too...

Problem is it might fuel some speculation but more so drives FOMO for those without the above answers, that doesn’t help their objective to get players playing.
Additionally it doesn’t, same as the comment on how they advertise, drive the new games public awareness and hence draw in new players.
They need to be more communicative and advertise beyond ‘word of mouth’ imo

Hard disagree. Marketing team is doing great job with this.
And to clarify You and I are not the target of this marketing so.

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Dxt44 wrote:

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Timbo Zero wrote:

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Hammerhorn_Oathsworn wrote:

They left it vague on purpose imo to fuel speculation. Two wraps of tin foil and you'll see it too...

Problem is it might fuel some speculation but more so drives FOMO for those without the above answers, that doesn’t help their objective to get players playing.
Additionally it doesn’t, same as the comment on how they advertise, drive the new games public awareness and hence draw in new players.
They need to be more communicative and advertise beyond ‘word of mouth’ imo

Hard disagree. Marketing team is doing great job with this.
And to clarify You and I are not the target of this marketing so.

100% agree we aren’t the target audience (we’re already theoretically sold on the new game), though would love to see examples of advertising that’s outside of the PoE community. If you’ve got any I’d be fascinated to see them genuinely.
I personally haven’t seen anything in tv, magazines, etc only game reviews for sites and people that already play this and similar games. Which is a start but could be better. That early access video is superb and I’d bet it would get people that have never played the genre of game to at least look, if they saw it.

Edit. To be fair a free game isn’t likely to do a tv campaign so that was a little unfair but some sort of campaign outside the arpg community should grab new players purely for that early access video alone imo, it was that good.

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Timbo Zero wrote:

100% agree we aren’t the target audience (we’re already theoretically sold on the new game), though would love to see examples of advertising that’s outside of the PoE community. If you’ve got any I’d be fascinated to see them genuinely.
I personally haven’t seen anything in tv, magazines, etc only game reviews for sites and people that already play this and similar games. Which is a start but could be better. That early access video is superb and I’d bet it would get people that have never played the genre of game to at least look, if they saw it.

I mean for me it's pretty clear. It's not open beta, it's closed alpha, not full release, they will add missing content through this, so it's not time for this yet.

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Dxt44 wrote:

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Timbo Zero wrote:

100% agree we aren’t the target audience (we’re already theoretically sold on the new game), though would love to see examples of advertising that’s outside of the PoE community. If you’ve got any I’d be fascinated to see them genuinely.
I personally haven’t seen anything in tv, magazines, etc only game reviews for sites and people that already play this and similar games. Which is a start but could be better. That early access video is superb and I’d bet it would get people that have never played the genre of game to at least look, if they saw it.

I mean for me it's pretty clear. It's not open beta, it's closed alpha, not full release, they will add missing content through this, so it's not time for this yet.

You could be right but JR has heavily implied that the early access will be full game (but with more to be added quickly, I had infered he meant we would be getting a ‘standard’ league equivalent). The closed ‘alpha’ was invitation only and under NDA and my understanding that that phase has already passed.

So full game but not full game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_access
Arguing about definitions of made-up concepts is pointless.

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Timbo Zero wrote:

I personally haven’t seen anything in tv, magazines, etc only game reviews for sites and people that already play this and similar games. Which is a start but could be better. That early access video is superb and I’d bet it would get people that have never played the genre of game to at least look, if they saw it.

Edit. To be fair a free game isn’t likely to do a tv campaign so that was a little unfair but some sort of campaign outside the arpg community should grab new players purely for that early access video alone imo, it was that good.

I don't know about u, but I've seen lots of PoE promotion at all the recent gaming events like Gamescom, PAX, Summer Games Fest iirc. They appeared on the xbox showcase I think and usually they start their press tour some months ahead of a big launch. That might not happen for early access yet, but certainly for the games' final launch.

I think right now they focus on getting the game right for existing audiences, because that's the people playing and funding the EA. After that they will branch out even more. I think the latest closed beta already did that with inviting mostly players that were new to the genre afaik.

Also u don't have to forget that PoE2 will still be a niche game. Sure they try to make it more accessable to newer players, but it won't ever be a casual game like D4. People that stick to PoE are hardcore gamers in nature. (some have less time than others, but still)