You're right, nobody will do anything for free, but a corollary to that principle is the fact that people don't generally pay without receiving something in return. Otherwise that's a donation and those don't really work with the "Nobody will do anything for free" argument imo because it implies an exchange. You seem to be forgetting that funding is usually based on progress updates/reports, on deliverables, on objective metrics. On something that you do. Otherwise, what's the basis? What are we funding or paying for?
Of course I acknowledge there may be payment issues, Shine might not be getting this money for a long time yet, but it's still leaving our pockets, we're still paying even if patreon holds it. The promise of future benefits exists both in funding the game (the promise of the game) and in making the game (the promise of the patreon money eventually being paid out).
Let's all be reasonable and hope for the best. When there's a playable update with some content we'll sub again.