Well, after PoE2 we can ecpect this to happen more and be a strategy for hyped games, in the industry. Overwatch 3, Marathon, The Last Decendant 2, one of those popular Gacha games... all paid for early access and on console too. 

I thought paying for early access was bad even when you get the 1.0 version at release however playing to be QA for the 1.0 release of a soon to be free to play game boggles my mind.

If you have bought PoE2? Can you explain your reasoning as you only get 3 acts, the game is seemingly in a good state but you're still buying in to be a member of the devs QA team and even if it were to be a 70 euro game or not would it not tarnish your experience?

I couldn't understand why people would ruin the first act of Divinity OS2 OS 2 or Baldurs Gate 3 for themselves but at least they got the full price game for "free" afterward. Why not wait til 1.0 releases?

If you budget responsibly, and it fits your budget, absolutely.
Otherwise, bad idea.

There’s not really a poll option that reflects that, but I’ll make the answer for responsible people who know what they want and vote: totally.

Paying for early access in general is for idiots.

I dont get Early Access games unless they are in bundles.

Cool. So I'm n0t the only one. Anyone out there that can reason this particularly query. @SvennoJ Why did you choose to buy into Early Access on PoE 2 when you know the game is unfinished and it'll be free to play once 1.0 drops. Do you feel you will return to 1.0 or is this session with it gon a be enough? I know you get a lot of hours out of it, watching on the games recommendation thread but 30 euro when you could wait for the finished product for Fred....? Do you feel you got ripped off?

Yeah. Everyone can make their own decisions, indeed. I'm just really curious how people feel when making this particular decision and why do they do it. Who would want to play the first act of Baldurs Gate 3 years before release and not only have to wait on a cliff hanger but also start with the worst version of the game as it will only improve. Seems to me, really odd and it's making me so curious especially cause PoE2 is going to be free to play. 

I would probably not, but if you're certain enough it's a good enough game even in early access and either you're impatient or want to support the development of the game, I don't see why you couldn't pay either. Of course in most cases it's probably just a waste of money.

Paying for say an early access indie game that is still in it's dev cycle I am semi fine with, but a game that asks you to pay to GAIN early access to play said game that will also be F2P is a big no-no in my books.

Also I have noticed that some of those games that do go F2P offer "founders" editions where you pay a chunk of cash to gain absolutely everything, but then it turns out you din't get absolutely everything, is also another big no-no from me.

POE2 gives you tokens to buy stuff that will help even when it becomes free. I play games to have fun and my friends were all buying the EA, so I thought it sounded fun.

Personally I bought Diablo 3 and was disappointed, so I didn't buy Diablo 4. I tried POE 1, but I felt it was too late to jump into. I wanted to give the genre another try. So in the end I bought POE2 EA, and it was well worth it, much more than Diablo 3.

We were looking for something to play together over the holiday. I didn't even know it would be ftp later or that it was only half finished.

Anyway I don't feel ripped off for playing, I do feel kinda iffy about the always online nature and how it pushes you towards the trade website later on. The loot and crafting system really sucks, but the action is so good. Maybe we'll just continue clearing low level maps and not bother with the higher tiers.

No clue if we'll return when the 1.0 hits. I assume it will be a total wipe of all we have achieved so far since it keeps mentioning the 'economy'. Which would be a deathblow for us. Starting over from scratch with nothing will be a great insult. So maybe next holiday D4 gets a shot ;)