Once bitten twice shy.
The games developement is following a very known pattern that makes people douubt, because they've seen it before. While I wont assume the dev is acutally doing anything bad on purpose, I can't blame people for being cautious. If Akaime proves the doubters wrong and releases a massive banger update that was worth the wait, then awesome.
Some devs have longer developement cycles, like Caribdis, but they have already developed peoples trust first. A new dev slowing down and/or going silent are massive red flags that people will react to. This is why I think having smaller updates is better for newer devs, because otherwise this will happen in their fanbase.
I considered becoming a patron when I finished the game due to the high quality, but the dev time made me rethink it. Stormside "bit" me, and now I need to trust the dev before I give them any money.