Sorry to say, I'm reacting to the tone in your questions, which make them sound like accusations of some sort.
But then again, English isn't my native language. Perhaps you intended to phrase them differently.
It was so with the UA, now for the meta-alloys & barnacles, still the same rules apply. Nothing much changed.
Using ingame mechanics, and / or with a dash of mythology from previous titles & interweb.
However, it's the last question which sort of ticked my buttons. What kind of answer do you expect from the last question?
To be frank, it looks like you're trying to bait MB, and I don't really understand why you would try to do that.
I hope not, I hope I just missed the point