This is something we've seen many times now with all the remakes of sets LEGO likes to do, what ends up happening is simply that LEGO likes to charge more to charge more, but I don't mind paying a bit extra as long as quality is there, but LEGO has had a few slip ups in the past... Just to name a few, later 9Volt train motors, see-through 'solid' colored bricks, printing wearing off certain head molds; Mr. Krabs, a SW character; ect.
LEGO also seems to like to add unnecessay plate levels, Palpatine's Arrest, Rancor Pit(Some may argue that it was needed for the opening door, but I disagree as it could have been done without the clip, so only 'needed' for an function not too crutial in the grand scheme of the set, but I digress) ect.
Now, what were you guys honestly expecting from a UCS Sandcrawler? LEGO has a limit to what they can produce and still make a profit, if you're telling me you would have rather had a larger Crawler that would be impratical with this design to get the price down, as most parts are used for the actual crawler, not interior parts. The only way I see that the people unhappy with it to make them happy would have been to make it anothrt 500 dollar UCS set so it could have fit in to TLG's budget and profit making, but even so it is a unpopular vechicle, not a bad one, but just one that probably won't be around for long and they did do the right decision where they can produce this, make money, and satisfy the larger group of people out there.
See, here's the thing, most people who like LEGO like to be able to do something with it other than just display, not saying it's the best way, but I'll say it's my default reason for buying LEGO. The Death Star II was discontinued after only 2 years, why? Reports say that this is because it was a poor seller, but these could be false, but who knows. What I do know is that whenever I invite people over to my house they instantly gravitate more towards the play sets instead of the 'adult' models.
Now with regards to the updated the Sail Barge, and other sets like it, I feel that overall the set is better than the original, if you're looking at detail. If size, the original wins out being 2 studs wider and I believe 4-6 longer, which the new one could have been and still looked just as fine. There are issues with it, but I prefer the new one because it is more accurate to the movie.
All and all, I think UCS SW sets should be regarded into two categories, minifigure scale, and 'life size' scale.
Now my final thoughts on the big old beast
1) The plate design is approved by me, allows more detail to be captured
2) Wish it was easy to add PF, fail by the designers
3) The marketing as an adult set was just bad, while I don't mind it being labeled as UCS, have two categories
4) Love the interior and figures
5) All pieces should have been PRINTS, NO STICKERS on UCS sets!
And finally...
6) My favorite thing about the set and my overall opinion on it is that it is one heck of a beast and I love the treads on the thing.