It's pretty much this.
Non-Founder people on Steam will buy the game, try it out, write up a negative review and refund the game.
Once those negative reviews have piled up in the hundreds or thousands, newcomers are going to start having serious second thoughts about getting the game.

Here is a small sample size of what is to come down below, just read the comments.I know a lot of you are hardcore for this game, I am as well. But the fact is the game is not ready. Yes Steam EA has had success for a small amount of games but it also has been the death of many more games. We are suppose to have huge battles and massive campaigns right? Cant have that if no one plays, first thing I do when I look to buy a game on steam is look at the review and comments, and at the stage the game is now the game will be torn apart. People that are not like the founders will not be as forgiven.

http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/...ess-Ready-for-Primetime.html#vanilla-comments

Ya the vultures are out there.

I have had a lot of fun with the game so far and believe there is potential for the game but most people won't be as patient. If you claim this game is going to be a mmo you have to give them a mmo. Giving them a CoD game with a 40k mod is not going to cut it.

......well....nope, not doing it, this will be the extent of my comment as I'd prefer going to work with a clear, semi-jolly mood rather than the "man, I just want to dash my..." anyway (never mind, I am commenting insanity), I'm just going with they'll do what they'll do because they can/want to do it because it suits what they can/want to do , so the can do what they want to do in the manner they choose to do it because they can/want to do it....ah, it came full circle, excellent.

Ok guys final warning be civil about posting here or this is getting locked and so will any other threads about this topic. I am sure the dev team wants to know your feedback about this but when you turn on each other about if you think this is a good idea or not no one will want to read it and the post becomes pointless bickering. I do mean what I say the next person that is not civil about their posting will be the end of this thread and issued a warning.

Despite my enjoyment thus far, and my love for the 40K franchise, I'm not sure that doing Early Access on Steam will be beneficial. As has been pointed out, Steam has seen a number of Early Access titles and has fatigue. There may be a short-term surge in cash flow, but a longer term impact with the perception of what it is.

Pretty much what the OP said, do not put this game on Steam early access in its current state or expect no one to ever purchase this game in future, people will buy it, they will lag or find it unfinished or buggy and then refund it and never look at it again, especially since many will give out negative reviews.

First impressions are everything and with its current state only the most hardcore 40k fans are going to ignore the glaring issues and early state of gameplay that the game currently offers.

Call me a naysayer, and mind you, I have no proof, but I can bet on my life their definition of being funded already is dirt poor, forever alpha version of the game, not an MMO AAA title they promised us, that`s why there is all this hassle about trying to sell as many founder packs as possible for months now, so they might be able to make something out of this game.

Sadly most games that rely on founders and early access which is usually garbage and unfinished project in infant stage, and looks pretty grim as most of you said, never kick off because people refund, or just stop buying it from steam, as negative review's and mouth to mouth information hit the general websites and public.