Yeah I get what you’re saying here. I remember that sort of discussion taking place during the play test.
Does using the non bonus variant in the GMG do enough to alleviate your concerns around that (if you play or were to play)? As to my mind, that seems Paizo is wanting to have their cake and eat it there, giving players the option if they don’t want that required Magic Item treadmill.
Well the simple answer is that Paizo doesn't get off the hook by just throwing in a variant which they then promptly ignore in all their official material.
(We have played the game. We have played an entire AP. But only one, and as it was our first we wanted to play it RAW*)
*) or at least as close to RAW as we could muster
I guess the point is that if Paizo didn't listen to playtesters (or more likely, listened to other more vocal playtesters, or simply ran out of time before they could consolidate) that's on Paizo.
The more involved answer is that, sure the automatic bonus progression variant (at least that's what I think it's called) solves the issue. But it only does so by nullifying a big part of the game that's supposed to be fun: loot. In other words, it's kind of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. And the bigger issue remains: that magic items for the most part are weirdly restricted and just not fun enough (perhaps the strongest and most unfortunate call-back to my 4E experiences).
So, no, I find that variant essentially uninteresting. Yes, it removes the need for ever-better weapons. But it does so by removing the bulk of why magic weapons are fun and powerful! (All you're left with is things like fire runes whose +1d6 fire pales in comparison to the 3d12 of striking runes)
I guess what you could do is both use the variant AND keep magic items as-is*. Except I want Paizo to think of this**!
*) In other words, first you get your basic needs filled automatically. Then you can find magic weaponry
on top of that, to get the truly magical sense of getting something awesome.
**) what I mean by this is that you're basically getting an ugly kludge here. It would have been far superior if Paizo thought of this and integrated the rules accordingly in the first place. By this I mean that instead of deferring basic needs to not-items this should have been included from the start.