They actually want to be a part of the development process.
TL;DR version - The guarantees for input are non-existent in the language of the kickstarter, so I wouldn't expect much if I donated. The whole concept is too immature for my blood, based on previous experience with early access to MMO projects. I wish this project luck, though.
That assumes that you'll be actually valued as input in the development process. My cynicism meter says that you'll be treated as a "pay to play" person in the alpha and beta phases of the project, and be largely ignored if you deviate much from what the developer decides is his vision. Having been involved in the early beta phases of these games before, I've found that most people are either a) looking for exploits to take advantage of upon release, and don't report them properly b) in for the early preview or c) genuinely interested in helping the development, but largely ignored.
So essentially, you are paying $100+ to have early access, and get frustrated/burnt out on the game before it is even released. Just because you've put extra money in, this time around, doesn't give you any additional sway in the game development process... unless MJ decides to listen to you. Nope, you'll get a "thank you" as a single page of "Thank you to all of these people:" and he gets to essentially pocket the profits from your kickstart. Even more troublesome is the temptation to go "F2P" soon after release, which means that your copy of the game, and any subscription time is severely diminished by microtransactions and MJ's determination of what the prior subscription entitles you to as far as virtual currency.
This is a problem with kickstarter for non-physical goods. You aren't buying into a stake of the company (like you would with a stock purchase, which is how these things would previous have been handled). You are essentially paying an overpriced pre-order, with early access which doesn't guarantee any actual input into the end product. You are relying on the good-faith of a person whom you have limited exposure/experience to/about.
For full disclosure, I played DAOC for about 4 years, had over 30+ level 50s, several RR5+ characters across multiple realms. I was excited about this concept, and considered funding the kickstarter. But, ultimately the above diatribe ran through my brain, and, especially with my recent experience "beta testing" Mechwarrior Online, and the debacle that was their "Founder's packages", I decided that there wasn't enough incentive to part me from that much money at this point in time. I wish this project all the luck in the world, and I hope to be playing it in another year or two. But, after having put together detailed analyses and arguments for several MMO beta programs in the past on the poor decisions being made, and getting ignored, I am quite skeptical of the amount of input that I would ultimately receive.