Determining what matters and what doesn't when you do not have access to all the information is a double-edged sword. What matters to a player may have no significance if you look at the bigger picture.
I doubt that there is one single person who has
all the information. It is always a double-edged sword as it is always subjective. I work as a software developer so I know that just following your own plans without discussing with the customer can quickly lead to a dead end. And the "customer" would be the players in the case of Planeshift. Or are the devs do the work just for themselves? I don't think so. The players can tell you how the game looks on the "outside" while a developer has the insight on the "inside". And as a player I can tell you how "incomplete" this game looks on the "outside" compared to other games on the market. Why not finish something first before opening up a new barrel? Let's take lockpicking as just one example. It has been in the game for how long? Are we able to use it in the game? Or the quarterstaff...why not finish this "project" by letting it drop by suitable mob and introduce the polearm-skill? Or making armour...I mean we have the armour, we have the materials, all we lack is the skill. I would guess that closing this "gap" would have been easier than introducing cooking/baking, with whole new resources and tools? Or take the missing models for the player races. Why introducing new animals while this important part is not finished? I'm aware that models for player races are more complex but it is "more complex" and not "completely different", isn't it? These are just examples and I hope that I was able to state what I mean with "it looks incomplete".
But then we'd hear someone say: "Why did you introduce climbing when there are other more important things you should do! Stop wasting your time and start working on things that matter!"
Yeah, I would have probably said that even though I have a character that would be very glad about that skill. But on the other hand I wouldn't have touched the climbing like it was, either. I used it quite frequently as it was part of my character and I didn't have to use "/unstick" that often. I really wonder why others had such a problem with it.
Players need to understand that bugs have to be fixed. Whether it's a big bug, a small bug, a nice bug, or a horrible one, they all have to go. In that sense, if you can fix a bug now, you do it because you know others will come. The priority is to eliminate them all. Otherwise they will keep piling up.
As a software developer I understand but if there is a working solution (e.g. "/unstick"), then you take on something else first. On a real market, where you would have to sell your software, your approach would fail because you would not be able to meet the deadlines. You have a little bit more freedom with Planeshift but believe it or not, there is even a deadline there.
Don't take it so seriously. You'll be wiped anyways... 
Oh, I don't have a problem with that as long as it is everybody who get's wiped.