They just got lazy and needed to push it out the door.
60 spells sounds great to start, although I too like the idea of more 'differencing' between different elemental/shard schools of effect [water vs fire vs air vs earth].
I'm sure there will be other features that didn't make base that we wish had [as in other games] - perhaps some even due to their attempt to push it out the door make the [well actually even before the] promised delivery date.
But I'm expecting Elemental to continue to improve and expand. Stardock has shown amazing commitment to continue developing and evolving it's games after release, has a great modder community that exists for their games, and if I recall correctly will even offer tools to make your own spells [for the non-"lazy"].
From watching the forums I'd say the team has been working bloody hard to make the release on [well actually before] delivery date.. But perhaps you have some insider knowledge to support your defamation of calling them "lazy". Perhaps you also haven't been as lazy and have developed a comparable game - perhaps with every users suggestion already included in base? Or perhaps your manners are simply lacking. Whatever the/your issue, I hope you enjoy the game. I sure plan to.
Cheers.