No need to be rude.
Wasn´t meant to be rude, that´s just how I talk. I might seem stupid to talk in such a way but feelings are hard to convey on the internet.
You try to hold them to your standard. Doesn't work that way. And why would you think they're 'dodging responsibilities'? They're been mighty nice keeping Terraria up to date with new content even though there's no obligation for them to do so. They go well beyond what most game companies would do.
Sure, the release of new updates is something amazing. The fact that they could do so much with such a bad engine really goes to show that Re-Logic is an amazing development team. It´s just the whole info thing that´s the problem. Giving info to your fans is an obligation, giving updates to a game is not.
Sure, that'd make YOU happy, but what about the people who are then annoyed for not hearing about more details? There will be people who'd rather have not heard anything at all if "Development is going fine!" is all they would hear. There'd be people who would start whining about more details since if a dev says something like that, players can be sure there are more details to be found. And maybe the devs want to avoid that. Also, Re-Logic can never please everyone, whichever road they take.
That wouldn´t just make me happy, look at the Terraria OW threads and you can see a lot of people who want something, anything. Pleasing everyone is impossible. But one way they could do is just post a simple screenshot and some quick text. That would take little time, assure people that the game is progressing and give people something to chew on.
In my opinion you're being quite arrogant here. "...critique they need to learn from." Why, because they like doing things different? If someone doesn't abide to the/your rules of game development and whatnot they need to change their behaviour? Conform? Adapt? And what about the many game companies that develop their new games in secret, only showing results when the game is nearing completion? Or even releasing a game completely unexpected? Are they all doing it wrong? Perhaps, perhaps not, but they choose their own way to do things, and that should be respected in my opinion.
Terraria was a ball knocked straight out of the park. Could it be that they know what they're doing? I'm surely giving them a lot more credit than you do.
The thing they did do wrong is announce the game so early. They probably know what they are doing but the fans would never know that without info, now would they? There is not a definitive way to make games/release them properly. But there is bad ways and good ways. Do you know what could have prevented this? A simple "there will be a lack of info these upcoming months but rest assured that the game is being worked on".
There will be a trailer and a release date at some point, but it doesn't matter when this happens since people will be instantly hyped there and then. Personally I find it a lot more frustrating to learn details every week of a game I really want to play while also learning it'll take years for the game to be completed. I'd rather be left in the dark and be pleasantly surprised when the game is suddenly sitting right in front of me.
To each their own.