I bought in for EA on PoE2.

My reasoning? I typically only play 1-2 months out of the 3-4 months a seaon lasts.
While Settlers of Kalguur was good, I just typically "zone out" after like 2months.

I wanted to see what POE2 was like (for myself), after so many years of playing PoE1, and watching all the interviews and gameplay videos and trailers ect.
Also if say theres some challenges or rewards, for being one of the EA players, I wanted that.

Another thing, is POE1 is very complex with all the mechanics it has had added to it over time.
This time (POE2), I wanted to join in, and try every mechanic from the start, and stay with it (as new seasons are added) so I easily know it all, from 1st hand experiance, when they were added in.

Another thing, the money you spend for EA, isn't lost.
Its converted to "gold points" that you can use in their store (at the same rate as if you bought points).
These are used for "stash tabs" (gem,flask,currency,divinition,maps,blight,fragments, essences,ultimatum,delve,delierium,uniques...ect)
And for like skins (back,armour,weapon effects,finishers,characters,skill effects,footprints...)  and like hideout stuff,pets, and your account features.
And many more.

If you play POE, chances are you'll want some or many of these things eventually.
At that point, the points from EA buy in, will be there, waiting for you to use it.

Also honestly? feels good to just support good devs.

I've never done so before, but I had an ARPG itch to scratch. 28 euros for PoE2, and it's already my fifth most played game on Steam (like, since I started using Steam and they started counting play-time). Only Mount & Blade I and II, Skyrim, and Elden Ring sit above it right now in playtime. I bought Diablo 4 day one for 70 euros, and it was a piece of shit that I never returned to after three weeks of playing (and around 70-80 hours in total). PoE 2 in EA already has more content and depth than any full release I've played in the genre, save for PoE and perhaps Grim Dawn. Is it silly to pay for something that will be free upon full release? I guess that's a matter of perspective, I see people buying "Ultimate Edition" games all the time for 100$ or more, pre-order digital titles for "special" bonuses, or shell out for skins, mounts, and other things I consider silly. Heck; look at train and flight sims and the price of small amounts of DLC, or games like The Sims, which are much the same in that regard. Gamers buy in-game currency for real money all the time, it's everywhere - I find that to be a lot sillier than paying for an EA game, regardless of whether it'll be F2P upon full release. Some of the kids at work will spend 40-50$ or more every single month on "v bucks" or "Robux", without hesitation.

My coins and stash upgrades carried over from PoE, I imagine those of us who bought the EA will get some kind of carry-over functions and goodies when the full release comes. Oh, and also, I've been paying attention to the dev talks and updates; they actually take direct criticism and opinions and adjust the game directly according to them. No other developer I can think of does this in the same way, it's astonishing how aligned they are with their community. The biggest profiles in the community went over the 0.1.1 patch notes and were all stunned to see how well they solved the biggest reported issues and balancing (but it's far from finished, of course).

With as much fun as I've been having with this until now, I can't imagine it with twice as many classes, over twice as many weapon types, twice as much campaign to beat and lots and lots of juicy endgame stuff to tinker with. Is it stupid to pay? That's up to you to decide for yourself. For me, it most definitely was not.

We did make alternate characters in Everquest and WoW, but only 1 or 2 and we always went back playing our main characters, 4 years for Everquest, 3 years in WoW. We briefly tried ranger / witch combo yet both of us weren't impressed by missing out on melee. Hack 'n slash play style without hack n' slash isn't much fun :p. Is the game going to add more melee classes?

But yes, once the campaign is doubled it's a good incentive to play through the story again.

We can't play 12-16 hour sessions anymore! It takes us 2 weeks to run through the 3 Acts. Plus multipayer is fine where it is now, invisible. (Doesn't work in couch co-op, we're always alone until one of us logs in alone) So the whole 'competition' and trade marketplace are moot to us. (We haven't signed up for the trade shop either, needs another account)

Anyway Poe2 lets you rebuild you character at any time (apart from the Ascendancy class I think) so why start over :p I've rerouted our passive trees plenty times, tried different skills from different classes but our play style preferences are pretty firm after 25 years!

One thing we both hate, watching You tubers. Guides are the most I'll look up, my wife isn't interested at all in the 'meta game'. But I assume there will be a lvl limit. We never reached the limit in Everquest since that kept adding more levels, skills, spells, alternate xp and new zones twice a year. That was ideal for longevity but we did have a $13 a month subscription (x2) and 2x new expansion to buy twice a year. Very much opposite to ftp!

First time around, it might take a few days..... but already now, there's plenty of people running through all 3 acts in less than a day.
That basically the life blood of hardcore mode. (ei. first death = character deleted).
These people get really good at knowing what to do, and what not to do, and what levels of power and resistances you need, and every little trick in the book to cheese the system. (basically "meta" stuff = this is the way, things are done fast and easy)

I'm honestly split on if I like how easy it is to "respec" your character.
Being forced to reroll if you f*** up your skill tree (passive tree), is honestly not that bad, it prolongs the cycle by making choices meaningful and increasing the time it takes to experiment. Which for me, was a huge part of POE1.  I liked to try non-meta stuff.

Yes the level limit is 100.

The time it takes to level up and get more experiance, goes up the higher your levels get.
So by the time, your level 94 or so.... getting to level 95, might take more time, than getting level 1 -> 90 did.

Also, if you die, you lose experiance points, prolonging how long that journey to 100 takes.
Throw in the drastic costs of crafting, to reach the very upper limits, and diminishing returns for said price...  You run into a point where "your good enough" now.
Ei. its perhaps not worth investing more currency into that character (not all builds, scale equally well).

In poe1, people did ladder/race/league start characters.
These are builds that are "functional" for low currency/items, that get you to endgame.
However once at endgame, they kinda suck.... so you use it to farm abit of currency or find some items... and then do the next character (that scales better), or is suited for the type of endgame farming you want to do.  This is why in poe, every season, basically ever single player, has at least 2 characters pr season (minimum).

Maybe you grow attached to one of your characters lateron.... but mostly, its just about building up currency (farming) and finding items.
That is also how hardcore can work... your stash stays with you, reguardless of your character.
So that season, even if your in hardcore, and die, the items you put in there, are still there, for the next attempt at greatness.

We just want to have fun, not manage spread sheets :p

We'll see how far we get. We're already back to running tier 1 maps for fun, don't like the stress of dying in tier 4 maps and losing xp, taking us further apart. We're also skipping most loot, tired of all the calculations involved with upgrading.

We have to find the citadels for quests, no clue where they are and we probably can't take them on anyway lol. So just wandering around the giant end game map without any real aim.

Lost dungeons of Norrath is still our favorite end game content, meaningful rewards you can work towards that didn't take a ridiculous amount of time, running random themed instanced dungeons. Basically how this end game works, but with more attainable smaller yet meaningful goals. (not this bs % stuff)

As long as the action is fun we'll keep playing, the meta game however, not for us.

And yeah it was the same in Everquest, the higher level the longer it takes to level further. That's where the alternate xp came in from the dungeons expansion, smaller goals to keep interested while slowly grinding towards the next main level. (Everquest was very unforgiving, you would actually de-level and lose abilities if you died and lost xp going below 0 in your current level)