If Larian thinks they can handle the additional work then I can only say go for it!
Extra publicity, feedback and funding does sound good. I must say, upon further consideration it now seems well worth it to me... especially if Larian is awesome enough to add some of those funds to Original Sin's development, I'd be cheering every purchase.
Perhaps as fans we just don't want to see a game we are invested in getting potentially
badmouthed poorly criticised by
retards people. Whereas developers are probably more used to it ;-) As Swen says, there is reason to have faith in D:OS's target audience. Perhaps we sometimes overestimate the impact of those few that complain loudly and badly rather than making informed constructive criticism.
Besides, D:OS is in a very different situation to Wasteland-2, it's in a more polished state and the alpha is free to all backers now. The only people who could possibly feel miffed are those who specifically paid extra for alpha access in the kickstarter, yet this has already been addressed months ago with refunds/credit for any of those who want it. Seems all good to me.
From what I can tell, the main things to do with early access are to release an already polished product, fairly priced, update regularly and maintain a good presence on the steam forms. If Larian ticks all these boxes, as I think they will, then do we really need to worry?
From the outside, we don't know how fast you can work, or how much else is done, working, and just locked out of the Alpha stage. All we know is that the schedule has moved down a lot, there was a February 28 deadline, and there seems to be a lot of work left.
This. With only six weeks to go people are starting to wonder what's going on. I'm anticipating an update imminently ;-)
Edit: Lol @Bearhug, I think you aptly summed up the concern.
