Well if you think about it the current installation procedure is about installing first the base version everyone's got from their CD or Digital Download, that's either 1.00 or 1.01, then applying the latest cumulative all inclusive patch on top of it.
From that point of view, installing 1.04; 2.00; 2.01 or 2.02 all follow the same procedure, that of the base install + patch install.
What you are observing of course is that given 2.00; 2.01 and 2.02 came relatively close to each other, performing the full install each and every time becomes or at least feels like bit of a chore.
So with the coming 3.00 version in 2016 everything should remain the same, albeit with a possibility we could have tools available to actually create an install that not only adds new files, but can also remove outdated stuff.
Installer like that could be the difference where we could actually 'officially' recommend installing patch over an existing install is supported.
I hear what you're saying! But this is what it looks like from this side of the fence: which ever installation method we recommend that creates the least amount of issues, well that's the one we are giving a thumbs up, not the others.