... the game was a disappointment from the start and never ever met their expectations.
Not sure how game could have not met their expectations considering the fact they created the game from ground up. The fact is - CoH2 was released in an alpha-like state, then it took them all these years to finally make it into something resembling a decent game, however they continued to fuck up along the way. Even now, after 'testing' balance patch they managed to release it in an abysmal state and then take another month+ to fix all the bugs they introduced while completely fucking up the balance along the way. It almost feels like people working for relic are coding CoH while high on some bad drugs. Obviously, the excitement with CoH deflated with even most hard-core fans, however being unique as it is, CoH still keeps a bunch of masochists (read: us, the players) invested in it enough for relic to milk them for cash every now and then in order to fund whatever the heck they're working on.
Sad fact is - Relic failed us miserably and repeatedly. I've sunk a decent amount of time and money into this game, and one thing I've learned is that I'm never ever buying anything from Relic with full price-tag on it. As an opposite example - as soon as Project Red (makers of The Witcher series) opens pre-orders for their next title, I'll get it.