Pandemic took almost 4 years to release Mercenaries 2 and the game seemed like an early Alpha stage release. The Lord of the Rings game was a huge quality step down after Battlefront.
While that is true, ultimately it's EA responsibility. If EA didn't like the crap that was Merc 2, then why did they fund LotR, and then The Saboteur?
You complaining about how people on the boards "always want to side with the little guy" is asinine. It's EA's fault. EA allows - even endorses it (by way of further funding) these stupid projects, never holding the devs to a higher standard.
For years EA has been gobbling up devs and having them put out crap to make a quick buck. Now that EA is hemorrhaging cash like crazy, they're running around cutting everyone and everything. Should have cleaned up this mess before it got like this.
I run into this crap all the time at work. My bosses are all reactive, not pro-active. Same with EA. They could have fixed this long ago, but they don't want to.