JohnL83 - You're not alone in that regard, there were thousands of unhappy players who pre-ordered and paid full price for the EP who felt the same way. But this conversation is now a bit past its shelf-life date even for those catching up to not previously owned EPs.
I don't like having to be in a position to defend EA. It's not one of my favorite things to do. You are a mean and evil person for making me do this.
Island Paradise was released in June 2013, it was the 10th of the 11 EPs. There wasn't much time in between that and the dissolution of the TS3 development team. Yes, the world should have been fixed but they apparently hadn't planned on keeping staff around who could actually do that and not make things worse in the process. That's not really a defense at all now that I look at it typed out, but more of an explanation. What happened or didn't happen between the end of 2013 and now doesn't matter because although it is still being sold the game is legacy and there has been no development on it by EA at all since then.
If the only available choices are to use a player-fixed up world (or do it yourself using their suggestions) or set the world aside and never play it, there is an argument to be made that the former is more likely to lead to fun and satisfaction with the end product even if it shouldn't really be necessary. I mean, after all, look at the site we are having this conversation on. Much (not all) of what the NRaas mods do theoretically shouldn't be necessary either.