QUOTE: And if that's not all, they spent their focus on what is the deadest part of the game: the gunpowder age and beyond. Everyone knows that the early years are where the fun is at and that the meta game is slow and drawn-out. They're enhancing that with a ton of new crap that'll up the ante and make it as fun as the earlier ages.
This is the most relevant point to me. I really find the latter stages of the game rather monotonous (apart from the wars), whereas the earlier period is filled with hundreds of options and exciting choices, racing against other civs to obtain certain techs, wonders etc, expanding as fast and as far as possible, exploring the world. The later stages do indeed need a makeover in my opinion, and it will be well worth buying the expansion to improve on this.