Do you think the programmers at Firaxis are mindless robots?! They need their food, sleep, rest and stuff-that-isn't-work activities just like us.
I for one am glad that they are releasing such a large patch, and telling us about it in advance. It's keeping us informed, and good communication goes far.
I realy don't think that there are people in here who say that the programmers sould work harder just to satisfy our will,i am sure that they always try to do their best in a very short period of time.
When the anouncment for the new patch was out everyone expressed their surprise and appreciation for the size of the patch that not only has to fix bugs,but it will influence the aspect of the game also(at least from what we read).So it is logical that from the moment we have this information we will ask over and over again,personaly i would prefer not having this information but only the patch.This story is repeating every time,after the announcement,we ask.
We like the game,we buy and play it and 2K/Firaxis are taking in considaration the people in here to imrove their product.This is an economical relation and it is right,so since we are the customers we ask of them to be more consistent.Personaly i despise the fact that today most of the games needs at least a major patch to work well,more money at publishing and less to the programmers(i am not one) and the time needed to develop it.This fact creates a superstirtion,and when this fact repeats itself,we express ourselves in the way we do.
White Elk said it very well indeed.
Edit: Lobsang1979 made the right question i believe.What can we do as customers?