Your reasoning makes no sense. Just because you are in the minority doesn't mean no one else gets a say so. It makes no sense to only pay attention to a few people simply because most people want Steam... that would defeat the purpose in the question in the first place. That's much like asking only Christians what religion is better. Being among the majority of people, I use Steam and it makes sense to go with 3 so that they can go through the process much quicker and have the game finished for everyone much sooner. You might as well complain over a game being released in another country before being released in North Korea.
Option 3 all the way. I don't know why you wouldn't want a Steam copy of this game. Steam doesn't require you to be always online, you can download the beta, and updates more frequently. Also, Steam has stood the test of time, and even if Steam one day magically goes away there will still be a DRM free version of this game available. Steam all the way guys. Don't let the Steam haters talk you out of it.
It still just links me to you saying you don't like Steam. It isn't a reasoning. It isn't a discussion. We get it. You are part of the 7.9% or so who want DRM free. You want "control". There are plenty of arguments and reasons for why a DRM version is a hinderance to the dev team. Piracy, micromanaging multiple versions, non-synchronized versions between different users, bandwidth and hosting concerns, and more. Can we dismiss you yet?
I agree with most people here that option 3 is the least work-heavy (thus the best) for you guys. You do, however, have a fourth option (or rather an option 1.2), provided the main source of extra work is chruning out patch files: Instead of posting patches for the DRM-free version, just update the download source with the latest version. Forces non-steam users to redownload the whole game if they want the latest version, but saves you guys the trouble of having to build a new patch file for every minor update.
I vote for number 3, the steam way. If the beta gets updated quicker and easier then it'll be that much faster for the non-steam client to come out as a stable client.
Honestly steam only is fine. If you are a PC gamer and don't have steam or don't use it I quiet frankly don't know what you're doing. If people insist on playing PC games without steam that is fine but you should definitely focus mainly on steam releases so you can work hard without worrying about updating two different clients. The beta talk in general gets me off though.
I personally vote for 3, its a little selfish, but i just want to play with friquent updates :/ sorry im selfish, but thats my vote
Option 3 for me, Steam now and DRM-Free later ! Most of people use Steam to register their games and stuff. And I prefer Steam instead of a DRM-Free ( automatic updates, etc etc )
No my friend, this is a very noble, are you ready to abandon the beta for an indefinite period of time.
