Notice that I did say "a lot less".
There's definitely been much more that has been sort of bolted-on than reworked. I did play the technical alpha a tad bit, then the beta. Yeah, sometimes ships and megs do some weird stuff, even still. I've seen plenty of flying Dutchman videos, as well.
Crazy to think though, that there was a time when harpoons, row boats, fillable chests, and collapsible masts simply didn't exist. And that's scratching the surface. Throwable bombs are so handy, if I can remember that they are a thing. (and I know they've been around for a while, but I sometimes still forget they were added when I'm in the heat of battle)