That's how people are justifying it, but the reality is, you are paying $30 to beta test a free to play game.

Yeah? GGG has almost always worked this way. They aren't saying anything different. I'm paying $30 to get 300 coins for MTX transactions and it's allowing me early access to their game. That's kinda how they've always operated. Had I supported them about $50 more over their lifetime, I would have gotten the early access for free as they gave it to a lot of POE1 players who had supported them.

None of this is new, or cloudy, or deceptive information. It's literally the way they've operated since the start of POE1 and how they generate funding.

I'm with Mountain Man. What you've described here makes the game totally unappealing to me. But I dislike always-online, multiplayer games any way, especially those with subscriptions or micro-transactions. If you like 'em, enjoy ...