And you're right, ever since the hat incident I've been craving more hat.
All about knowing what drink to pair. I recommend a weißbier with your tyrolean hat, and for your fedora, a PBR.
That survey seems like something you'd put out before development starts, not half way through.
I think it's more directed at the inevitable cuts that come later in development. Early in development, you need a clear basic plan. You can't just out and make random assets for 12 months and then try to figure out later what you're game is going to be. You have to take the core tech in some direction. You can improve and tweak that as you go, but you can't say "Oh, people want exploration, so I'm going to make my linear corridor shooter into ARMA 3 in space with 4 Earth-size planets to explore!"
This guy sums up my feelings, though it's not really what's going on here:
distantlurker 1 day ago
Less 'design by concensus', it crippled TOR, just grow a pair already.
I don't think that's true at all. Larian has been pretty pleased with how Early Access feedback has affected Original Sin, and that ended up pleasing fans and critics alike all while being brutally uncompromising in its core design. Same story over at Cloud Imperium (Star Citizen) and inXile (Wasteland 2, Tides of Numenera).