Yeah servers are crammed lol, it has also beaten D4 for twitch viewercount (1.1m vs 941k)

Past 300k concurrent now, this is seriously impressive. Those Twitch stats are also great news, GGG have a hit on their hand for sure.

over 1.2m viewers now.

I'm still "unpacking" the steam version  . _ .

I'm screwed.... I bet I try to log in, and I'm like 500k in queue.


*edit:
Its now over 1.3m viewers on twitch.

420k currently just from the steam client.
I bet something close to that is from the poe stand alone client (as well).
Then throw in the console players...  The servers can't handle this... I'm fearfull of it.
They never had a million players all playing the game (poe1) at once.

This is gonna melt servers.

edit:

hit 439k players.... and now theres server issues (they did a post on twitter), and they are rebooting to get the realms sorted out.
(from the added servers, they rented to deal with the load)

So this might be a 2hour wait or something.

Servers are up! I'm in the queue

90% unpacked (steam decrypting takes forever)..... I should have started this way earlier...
I'm thinking I'll go to bed, and wake up early instead of waiting for things to get working now.

My current thinking is trying a Monk.
Doing a Invoker, because of the "lead me through grace..." and "... and protect me from harm".
I like the idea of getting a ton of spirit from my body armour slot.
Then having evasion also work as armour (even if you get 40% less).

In POE1 the most optimal way to build defenses was to layer things, and having a good amount of both, rather than just go fully into one.
Then have your lv4 spirit gem be "Ghost Dance" (Ghost shrouds).

Managed to play a couple of hours now, first impressions are solid. Lots of QoL improvements from the original, it's clear that they take feedback seriously. Overall, the game is really, really hard compared to the first one. I don't think I died a single time in my first 1-2 hours playing the original, but I've died at least 20 times during these two hours. Bosses hit hard and healing is limited. Even regular mobs are a challenge if you maneuver wrong, getting stunned out of AoE attacks is a common issue in combat. Controls seem somewhat off for now, some have said that it feels geared towards controller use, and I'm inclined to agree right now. It probably just takes some time to get used to, but it doesn't feel like a regular ARPG as far as movement and positioning go. Effects and overall visuals are amazing, properly gorgeous, especially spell and elemental effects. Atmosphere and music is S-tier so far, this is old-school ARPG stuffing in a really nice and modern suit!

No point on ps5. I hear of 1000ms lag.

28 retro on PS5 to get in on early access. Yeah...naaaaah.

When you select servers, when login in, it shows what your current ping is, to that server.
You need to select the one with the lowest ping (ei. a server close to you, typically).

This game is so different from poe1, that I'm still not sure how I feel about it.... yet.
I wanted to love everything about it, but there minor stuff that wasn't a issue in the first game where you knew everything like the back of your own hand.  The good stuff, is the story and finding you way is brand new. Its fresh, when POE1 champagne has long been abit stale.

The WASD key movement is so hard to get right, after years and years of using mouse movement, for one. (muscle memory)
And it feels like your punished if your not using it. That said, I have a monk in act2... and started a mercenary to try and compare the two.
Merc play definately feels alot more smooth.

Monk you have to remember to use a buff, then hit with Z ability, then use Y ability to cull a monster for power charges, then use said power charge to empower a wave clear skill. Ontop of WASD keys and melee combat being abit odd, with animation locking you in place when your attacking (even if you can cancel it).

Meanwhile playing Merc is just like a shooter..... wasd and kite while shooting.
You just load differnt rounds to do differnt stuff. I don't recammend anyone thats starting POE2 to play a melee class.
Do yourself a favor, play something ranged or spell caster based.
I thought maybe the roll stuff would help melee abit.... like POE1 this game favors being ranged.

watched a guy playing on ps5.... seemed fine..? not sure what to say.