Opinions I have heard from people who played the expansions (like 'Play The World') tend to run in favor of the game. It got better as they continued developing
after publishing.
The lesson here seems to be not to buy the first release of games anymore than the first release of any other program. Commercial software companies have become so desperately rushed that they always push unfinshed products out the door. The 'Gold' edition or the 'final patch' is now what you want to wait for.