Really excited for this, looks outstanding.

Early access costs $30 and includes $30 of MTX. When early access is finished the game will be free to play.

D4 was the gateway drug into ARPGs for me, I finished the main story but my friends who are more hardcore in these games feel the endgame and DLC is disappointing so I didn't bother with it.

After the content reveal for PoE 2, here's what Rod Fergusson (D4 Manager) had to say:

It looks great but if it suffers the same Looting as PoE I'll pass. The Diablo guy has a point though, Diablo did it first, they made this sub genre but casuals will say it's a game like Diablo anyway. As much as hardcore PoE players wanna shit on Diablo 4, it is WAY more popular.

I'm on a wait and see approach. I'm personally more excited for Titan Quest 2

Im SUPER MEGA hyped....
I've been playing POE1 for ages and ages, and its by far the best of the lot of hack'n slash diablo like games out there.
(Diablo 3 was so off putting, I dropped the franchise (I was madly inlove with D1 and D2)).

Basically if you like Diablo like games, you owe it to yourself to try POE1 at the very least.
Consider spending 30$ or just waiting until the full release of POE2.

1) wow.... going from D4 to POE, is like eating a cheap box pizza vs going to Italty for a resturant, thats famous for its pizza.

2) everyone always called their games "diablo-like". 
GGG themselves 10 years ago, with POE1, said it was a Diablo-like game, taking inspiration from D2.

His tweet sounds a lot like that tweet about Baldurs Gate 3,.... "dont expect or hold others to the same standard" thingy.
When larian impressed with their game.  Diablo is not the king of hack n slash's for me atleast, that died after diablo II.

Popular doesn't mean its a better game though.
Diablo 4 is only good if your a casual that plans to play througt the story, and after 50-60hours plans to quit the game and never return
(or maybe just 1 more character to try so whats differnt).

If you actually want to live and breathe, hack n slash that is diablo-like.... and for 100's of hours, and challenge yourself.... POE is that.
I think its also a much more rewarding experiance than playing D4.

The thing is, most of the market, is won over by the Name and marketing, and Cutscenes trailers.... (all the sh*t that doesn't matter)
The vast majority are cusual players. 

That is why Diablo 4 is doing well, its a old franchie and its easy mode playstyle appeals to many, and they are sold on the cutscenes.
Gameplay and endgame in POE sh*t's all over D4.

just watched this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iFva8e6PhA

Over 1 million early access keys have been used.... and its still going up.
Holy f***....

I think POE1 normally was only like 500-600k at launch for the more popular leagues (and then usually falling off, within a 2-3 weeks to more normal numbers).
This means hype for POE2 is massive.

Likely twice as many people as ever, will be playing POE lateron today (if servers survive it).

Here is a early skill tree:
https://poe-2-skill-tree-planner.vercel.app/

and here are what the acendency nodes look like:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3592012/page/1

Hope you guys enjoy this, too :)

Second this, Titan Quest was a huge favorite during our old LAN-parties. The sequel is looking terrific, and we already know that THQ loves to pump out DLC, and for a fair price at that. Path of Exile is great fun, but also really complicated, you need insane gear to tackle end-game content. To get this, you have to dedicate time that many people don't have, or are willing to put into one game (I belong in the latter category).

I will play PoE2 though, and I know I'll enjoy it, and there's the bonus of hopefully seeing Blizzard getting their asses kicked. Rod Fergusson made a complete fool of himself with his tweets - after the poor reception of their DLC, Blizzard are clutching at straws to hop on other games' hype-train and remain relevant just a little longer. I played D4 on day one, and played for about 80-100 hours, and then never touched it again. Huge letdown all-round. Blizzard, much like Bethesda and Bioware, have only now noticed that the genres they broke into the industry with have moved on and developed without them.

1 million early access have been achieved

2 hours to go....

I got me the early-access, because why not support great developers? I think I'll wait till tomorrow morning to log in though, servers will be absolute chaos.

Edit; yeah, I'm not able to log in. No surprise there. I'll try tomorrow, I get up quite early, so I'll have the server to myself (more or less).

Edit 2; Over 270k concurrent players right now! This is insane!