None of this should be necessary just to implement a "multiplay" game. Amazing & disappointing.
Every game I've played that has a multi-player component has suffered issues at some point or another - Whether it's a player being unable to log in or patches causing major issues that need re-patched or the server going down for a bit.
But I haven't even tried to use multi-player on EWOM yet. I've played 3 AI multi-player games and two of them crashed out and the other had a bugged AI that I stomped flat. Once the engine, AI, and UI are all taken care of, I assume that multi-player will be handled.
Honestly, with the ranking system and such in place, I'd be afraid to do multiplayer until it's all settled. I'd hate to be on a good in-game streak and have it crash out on me. Also, I saw your (Eddie) post a while back about them focusing on AI before multiplayer - Multiplayer will require people familiar with servers and networking and such, which means it'll use completely different people from the company. So AI can't really replace multiplayer development, so I'm assuming they're just working on the stability and balancing before multiplayer. AI is done a little each patch just like a lot of other tweaks.
Sorry if I'm rambling - Tired and going to bed.