Okay, I think we are getting a bit offensive to the dev team here for what is a free content drop for most, if not all of us.
A lot of comments about it being amateurish or low-effort. What if it is just that, an internheavy project made to have them graduate and grow their skills? They gain very little sales from this pack, so it makes sense to not invest too much in it. The marketing seems to be at that level too. Then perhaps we shouldn’t give them such a hard time on it?
Do you really want the most talented and experienced team working on this, or rather on the just announced Civ game? Again, they are giving us free content to make the wait more engaging. This benefits them too of course, but they never had to make it free. I do think it allows a LOT of leniency. Saying that the models don’t look as good as the rest is fine, but don’t be mean about it. As if you were an expert in your field of work from day one.
First of all, they are certainly making money off of this DLC (as they should!). Maybe not from direct sales, but certainly from users shoring up the remaining DLC they don't have by purchasing the Anthology pack. 2K is not running a charity and surely wants a return on their investment. You can bet that their bean counters signed off on this, just like every product they release.
I have not read comments that are disrespectful personally to the developers. And anyone who is somewhat familiar with my posts here knows that I am the first to call people out for getting personal. No, all the posts are related to the art itself, not the artists. And it's not just the art that is disappointing. You also noted that the marketing is not to the standard we have come to expect, and neither is the overall polishing (ability text, abilities themselves, overall concepts and ideas...).
The fact is, Civ 6 is a AAA title with the world's biggest gaming publisher behind it. Civ 6, like other games, will live on into the future indefinitely, and all of this content becomes a permanent part of its legacy and its story. With every DLC we get that is less polished, the final portrait of Civ 6 looks less and less refined and more and more slapdash. That's a shame to me and it does affect our enjoyment of the game. One cannot help but see the differences in quality every game, as all of the content is mixed together, inviting comparisons of this DLC with stuff that was executed exceptionally well, like Gathering Storm.
You're making a big assumption that "interns" are working on this, by the way. I think that is an insulting assumption. Sure, the main team is hard at work on Civ 7, but that doesn't mean that the people working on this are less experienced or skilled. It could easily be a matter of time and resources allocated to the project, not the skill of the artists or developers. And for that reason, "having the most talented team working on this or rather on the just announced Civ game?" is a false dilemma.
Ultimately, I don't know what you're trying to convey here. That we're not allowed to give feedback? The new promotional process for this DLC focuses on just releasing the art first. What else do you expect people to talk about? It's all we have, and frankly, this is a strange marketing approach, considering the quality differences with earlier content are clear as day. At least this art release didn't devolve into more debates about "skin tones."
The last point I want to make is that our respectful feedback is helpful. It is 100% fact that the devs read these forums and other Civ 6 places of discussion and take fan feedback into account. This goes all the way back to the base game, where the devs altered the model of Teddy Roosevelt based on feedback, and continues to the present, where the devs have basically copied-and-pasted bug fixes to code that people like
@Infixo have posted. So I think seeing what the general consensus on this art is is important to the devs--especially if, as you speculate, there are "interns" who are learning to on the job.
