I guess they didn't expect it because at its very core, the game is full of potential, and given how many bought the game and don't complain about it, it's a fun game overall with plenty of good things in it. People enjoying the game (I am by the way, I have tons of fun in it and I'm having a blast) aren't enjoying it just to piss off those who feel cheated. There are some really good ideas in it. And CDPR probably felt it too, and felt confident about it to a certain extent.
It's just frustrating because it could be so much more than what it is now. I blame all those years of hesitating in how the game should feel, what kind of game it should be... It took them so much developement time. In that matter, it's not far away from what we know happened to Anthem. Bioware spent years and years in pre-prod trying to find how the game should flow, and one day EA came knocking, said basically they wanted some money back for all those years of investment, and to stop going back and forth and to release the game as it is. Sounds pretty much like the same here. Foundations are solid though and the game is brilliant in some areas. It should just have been left in the oven for a longer period of time. The huge amount of bugs and console playability alone kind of prove it.