I was one of the people invited before 2.4 as well.
It was a great experience overall. Being ale to shake DB's hand and ask him to sign my copy of First Encounters... wow. Quite humbling must say. BUT! What were were shown for 2.4 and what we were told about was very hyped up. Which made be being very hyped up about 2.4 and the whole Return of Thargoids. The exact words "return of the worst enemy in the history of video games" were used when they were describing 2.4 to us in the office.
The way the "war" was implemented eventually left me EXTREMELY disappointed. To the point that I took 8 months break from the game, as I couldn't stand it.
Therefore I wouldn't pay too much attention to the "exciting stuff" and the hype of the invited guests - speaking from experience
I have adopted "wait and see" attitude since then. I have also not spend any money in their store since then (apart from couple of iridescent paint jobs, they were nice indeed).