I game too. I have 10,000 hours in DOTA 2, 800 in Divinity, 900 in Persona 5, 700 in Tales of Berseria, and the list goes on. Those are average numbers for my gameplay which I have been doing since the early 80s where I made my own crossover cables and was dealing with IPX/SPX to get LANs going. Ive built my own computers since the 80s and been in I.T. for over 25 years. I am the DM of 15 campaigns and I DM 3 times a week. When you say "we" call that fine-tuning. Who is the "we" you are ostensibly part of? If you haven't noticed, indie, greenlight, and EA games are a new norm that is different than it has been in all of gaming history over the last 5 years via the Steam community and things like Star Citizen - which yes, I have backed almost $2,000.00 into and also play regularly and provide feedback for. I am not sure why you are feeling your background is particularly relevant when all you need to do is read their press releases and watch video from WotC and Larian explaining everything I just did.
I have my share of pledges over the past years, including shity star citizen who will never be a good game EVER! Only a load of fanboi jerking over some bugged ships. The game has no soul. I pledged to SOTA which was suppose to be the spiritual sucessor of Ulitma Online, another pure garbage. Yes we are at a crossroad in the gaming industry where publisher have realized that making a game for all kind of players attraction is nearly impossible and therefore games should be more oriented toward a specific crowd. Now this is DND. Whois going to play a DND game? Mostly all old schooler who enjoyed Pen and Paper in the past and played all BG1 and BG2 including NWN/NWN2. Yes we are nerds. Aim your DND game to a casual crowd and you will see what happen. It's unfolding now. That the company had the odacity to release an Early Access at this development stage is a crime.
Get those Pre-Alpha / Alpha and Beta rolling, get the public in when you are looking for stability and polishing. There are no other way.
