Never, at any point (to I, at least), looked like it would be good. It's nice to see they had the sense to quit before it was released, too bad it took them so long to realize this fact.
WhY? While it was a bit pathetic, it was intended as an ending of sorts, to not let the fans hanging. UXO would have had none of the charm that made the originals up to 7 great, it would have been some chimps piddling around in the universe (which is questionable, given many of the early things said in design and some of the "features" that were listed). But, instead of anything original coming out of Origin anymore, EA tells them to make another expansion pack for those still playing UO.
EA's another on the list of publishers with a board of directors that need to have a Dogma experience.