Here's the thing - devs are damned if you do, damned if you don't when it comes to release dates. And this isn't just a patreon, small dev, indie dev issue, this happens with AAA games as well sometimes.
People whine and moan and demand to know when to expect a release. If a dev doesn't say anything, they are accused of not working on it, not caring about their fans, not being devoted to their project, abandoning the project, insert-accusation-here. However, if they give in and give an *estimated* release, it winds up being taken by some (many? certainly not all, but quite a few) as a promise, the gospel truth, an absolute 100% guarantee. If something happens that causes that estimate to change or be incorrect, then it's out with the accusations again - they lied, they aren't working, they can't be trusted, etc etc etc. So what does a dev do? Just say nothing and be accused of being a lazy good for nothing dev that won't even communicate? Give their best good faith *estimate* with the understanding that things happen - Best laid plans of mice and men - but then have that communication used against them unreasonably?
Also, what happens when it's "I've got a buggy mess of a release and it's the date I *estimated* for release. I need more time." We've seen here what happens if they reasonably say "I need more time. It's not ready yet." Accusations fly once again. I wonder what everyone would say if they got a release today, that crashed every other scene, or had missing pictures, etc - they'd probably say things like "Why wasn't this tested! How could you release such a buggy mess!" But the alternative is being patient and accepting that the estimate was just that, and needs adjusting. Simple, reasonable, logical, and understandable.
