I think that's fair, for people who don't understand how mods work in SMF (that they're developed indepentently, and that updating them can basically only start after the SMF release).
We're saying "Lookie here, you can upgrade!", but in reality, many people still have to wait for all their mods to be updated first. If that comes as a surprise, it'll obviously be a disappointment.
Since many SMF installations rely heavily on mods, we should maybe mention these "upgrade when using mods" basics in the release posts.
Edit: Actually that person might have actually meant it, like "I wasn't here for a couple of days, came back and saw rc3. Nice!"