It is the timing.
I believe, they made the right decision to just put it out as early as possible.
They knew that their changes were messing with everything and tried to solve the issues.
But just testing it in a small group, makes getting the full picture very difficult.
Thanks to the early release of the updates, they don’t need to waste too much time on finding those issues.
This way, maybe, just maybe, they are able to fix most important bugs, adjust and make some balance changes before their own and other people’s holiday time has come.
Arguably, just fixing known bugs and nerfing some units a very little bit - saving the other updates for next year, would have been an option as well. And at first sight, most people would have liked that much more.
They may have chosen this way, because they try to make an overall better and more fun game before Holidays.
I wish them luck.