A Bad Feeling About "M"

I recently discovered an article, "Behind the Scenes with 'Star Wars: Uprising'...," which appeared just before the game's release. While the article itself isn't notably stellar, I found it interesting in light of Uprising's present state, especially since the article features Daniel Erickson, the Senior Director of Game Design.

Once upon a time, Kevin Kabam posted on the forums about the decision to release the 3.0 update with non-multiplayer Raids. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find that post again to reread it. [And I did after this present post went live. You can read Kevin's explanation here.] In any event, Erickson makes a number of insightful comments about Uprising, which, coincidentally, have a lot to do with the social aspects of the game, such as the potential for multiplayer Raids. For instance:

That’s the magic that Erickson hopes fans come to find in Uprising.  The mentality that a group effort breeds group rewards. “Having a goal where the entire player base got together and said, ‘You know, we are going to push the borders. We are going to open up this game. We are going to decide what is happening in our world.’ [Our driving focus is on] making the ‘M’ part of the MMO much clearer and much more a part of the core game.”

The view Erickson articulates makes me wonder, too, about the recent demise of the cartel competition, as well as Kabam's general unresponsiveness to obvious issues with Sector Battles, arguably the  major social event of Uprising on a weekly basis. If the "'M' part of the MMO" is supposed to prove "more a part of the core game," then I wonder what precisely happened to Erickson's vision, since, more and more, "the core game" entails merely leveling up gear with no clear teleology. What's more, the Kabam Game Team has ultimate control over the entire MMO Battle system, not the players, as I surprisingly found out.*

All of this is as much to say that Erickson's original -- and really quite remarkable -- vision for Uprising has indeed changed. As it stands, the game is part of the Star Wars universe, and it's unfortunate that, despite a staggeringly high degree of potential, Uprising's part in that universe has contracted rather than expanded after the 3.0 update. Which "M" did Erickson refer to again? Apparently not to "Multiplayer," maybe "Massively"? Perhaps Uprising is now a Misguided Multiplayer Online game? Sheesh. I've got a bad feeling about this.  

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* At Starwars.com, the ad for SWU tells potential players that they can participate in "massive Sector Battles to dictate the expansion of in-game content." While not false, it's unquestionably questionable.