Before the release of that holiday add-on or sooner. If you think about it, once they release the patch, people's moods are going shift from mad to happy because they can feel safe about playing. And then, that's when they'll release their DLC. Quite devious, but it'll work. And to the people who say they're not going to buy the DLC; don't kid yourself. You will.
Count me out, no really if a patch does sort out the game breakers in the core game, you can bet your life the DLC will introduce more bugs to the the core along with the bugs in the DLC so back to square 1 again.
Personally i will wait for a deal of the week or what not and only then when the games reported as .....ok-ish (as we all should know it will never be up to a standard we all expect) so people who want the DLC dont kid yourself, you will be back here in this forum waiting for that never acknowledged question to be answered when can i play this game i have paid for.
Please dont get me wrong i have nothing but love for the Fallout and Elder Scrolls Franchises, they are a masterpiece in the art of storytelling and creating the worlds in which to tell them, they unfortunately are also the most technically flawed titles too.
I hope i am wrong and the DLC comes and passes the quality test in the eyes of us the gamers / customers, but i have always had high hopes but low expectations with Bethesda titles, that way im less likely to be left disappointed.