What if they tried to release premium DLC before the game is in a working state? This seems somewhat possible to me. They probably have a team working on patches, and a team working on DLC. The team working on DLC is probably bigger than the team working on the patches. Money before quality, after all.

it is possible. In fact i would not be shocked if they did.

Im guessing they would have a similar arrangement to how you described, one team working on the DLC, and another on the patches.

Honestly I doubt anybody will want to buy the DLC unless either one of these happens:
A) Patch is part of the DLC - it is gangster behavior to force someone to buy the DLC to get the patch but who knows when Money talks and BS walks.
B) Patch will come out before DLC and you will need the patch to play the DLC.

Scenario B sounds more reasonable to me.

That actually makes good sense.

While that makes sense, they need to push back the DLC, or forget about it for the time being. If anything, for profits they will earn over the Christmas period. I know for sure if this game is still in this state during the Christmas period, hardly anyone will buy it. They'll want the game fixed before then.