Maybe just maybe because some people only recently found out about this game, so even if there is something that is old news for you might not be for everyone. I don't check the patreon of every game I download here because I don't have the means to support every creator, I liked this game and wanted to see the prices on patreon, I wasn't surprised though it's not the first time game creators make an annoying game design and sell the solution for it afterwards.I mean... The Dev version is a thing since the start. Visible in plain sight with every patreon release. Why are people surprised?
I just want to point out that I'm not accusing the dev to be a greedy *ss, maybe he did this grindy system because he wanted to pad the game a bit, it's just very suspicious to make the game very grindy while selling cheats for far too much on patreon.