no community stretch goals
What does this even mean? I'm not understanding you here.
Community Stretch Goals are the Next Big Thing(tm) in Kickstarter campaigns. Not only do you offer stretch goals based on how much money you earn, but how much you're able to convince your community to push your game on social media channels.
I think they're manipulative and I'm glad we're not doing them.
Oh! Now I know what those are. I hadn't heard the term before, but I recognize the description.
I agree with Tigris on those, actually. I don't think they're manipulative. They are a way of engaging with the community and offering some tangible things for community involvement in helping to spread the word. That's a thing a lot of people will do anyway, but a gentle nudge doesn't hurt.
It's not like these would be "Retweet 15000 times or we don't include the Spire faction!", but there's room there to let people see something extra happen if they lend a hand by hitting the share button, posting gameplay videos, streaming for a couple hours, fanart, fan fiction, and such. It takes a lot of effort to manage those campaigns, which is tricky, but I have seen them used to great effect.
That said, if Arcen doesn't have the time to do it, it's better not to. If you have to choose between frequent updates on the KS and these, choose the updates. This is a case where doing it poorly is much worse than not doing it at all.