This is going to be my 3rd attempt at mining a coin from the start, after Ultracoin and Maxcoin. The Ultracoin launch was awful, disgusting, but Maxcoin dwarfed it so I don't even remember much as to what happened with Ultracoin.
I don't remember Ultracoin being as bad as most launches. I got around 0.05btc worth of ultracoins off that launch, which to me is really good for a launch.
It was bad because of avoidable issues that prevented many people from mining, does making it more profitable from the developers. But with that one I don't think it was deliberate like Maxcoin. Maxcoin was an undeniable scam. For crying out loud, the miner was published on twitter, where it got lost with new twits, and you had to compile it which is just horrible. And no Windows wallet until days later.
