I agree with what have been said by some, and that preorder with beta access would probably do more good than Steam Early Access. Preorders do not shadow the 'true' release in any fashion, the BETA state of the game is more obvious, and I can't see any thing that SEA does that a regular preorder does not. Maybe a little less visibility? But I remember reading (in Swen's blog I guess) that DC's preorders did very well on their own.
At the end of the day, it's up to you Larian, and I understand the attractiveness of SEA, though I'm not that found of it – I won't argue here, many already did. You made it clear when giving Alpha keys to backer that it was alpha, and not to be played if we don't want to spoil our gaming experience in any way ; so I trust it won't be any less clear for the EAS.
Only, as suggested by some, make sure to display the game as 'Original Sin ALPHA', as it's been done for DC, on Steam.
It's great that you bide your time thinking about it, and that you're listening to community's opinion
Must not be such an easy decision.
