As the whole alpha dilemma goes.... I think it really does depend alot on the player, to some extent.
Balance issues are important, and while I think that the "first impression" is also important, I think that seeing different iterations of the game... and being able to COMPARE them... actually helps alot more. You can look at both, and say.... wait, this thing over here worked best the previous way because of this, which I can now see because of the updated version.... and stuff like that. Very helpful in balancing. I do alot of testing and such for games in general, and this is usually the approach that I see.
Sure, some players might complain about "argh, I liked it better the old way", but really, you're likely going to have SOME sort of complaints regardless of which way you do things.
Beyond that, I give the situation a resounding "BAH!", since the alpha isnt there yet and I have negative patience. Really looking forward to trying this one out!
Try reading boatmurdered. It starts a little slow, but is absolutely fricking hilarious. I literally laugh out loud almost constantly through all of StarkRavingMad's part.
In terms of being lost with the game... yes, that describes me also. I've played about 12 hours of it, and got very little accomplished in it. It was fun, but I couldn't learn it at a pace that I felt satisfied with. But boatmurdered is one of my favorite things on the internet ever. 
Cool, I'll give it a read. As far as the game itself goes, I never got off the ground (well, in the ground). I spent about an hour trying to wrap my head around the UI (what UI) and get things going. After that, frustration set in. I feel like DF is going to take a lot more effort than I want to put into a game and that is just to get started. One of these days, maybe, but right now it isn't what I want in a game.
@Aklyon: Funny you should mention glaciers.. that was how my game started 
Yeah, that's how that game goes for most players. Me, I sat through some 50+ tutorial vids (each a good 30 minutes long) on Youtube to learn the game..... and I did this THREE TIMES. So yeah.... hard to learn initially. The nice thing is, you only have to do it once.... and the game is so freaking worth it.
Boatmurdered is hilarious, but I find it's even more satisfying when crazy crap like that happens in your own game. I had one point where I've got my soldiers fighting this giant spider monster thing, right, and one of them dies, so his friend goes totally berserk, leaps onto the spider, hanging onto it's face, and proceeds to slowly start yanking/stabbing all of it's teeth out, one by one. Finishes it off afterwards with a dramatic stab through the head. Marches back towards the fort in great triumph..... but never makes it there, as he wanders too close to the nearby pond, gets pulled in by an angry fish, and drowns.
I only wish they'd improve the UI for it. The game is so very, very amazingly good.... but sadly, too many players are put off by the bit where the UI is total gibberish until you've spent like 30 hours with it.
