I don't see what people are cracking the sh*ts about. Pretty much whenever there's been a new patch, we've all come out and said "for best results, patch a clean install." You don't have to install any new patch, nor do you have to do it to a fresh install. But patching a fresh install does allow you to take a peek at the changes without screwing up any of your existing mods. If you do notice an discernible difference between the new patch and the previous version you have been using, it's all up to you. Don't like it? Don't apply the new one to your modded install. It's as simple as that. It's not like COD or something where you have to be up to date in order to play online.
That said, after patching, I'm not a big fan of then porting all of my modded stuff over to my up to date install , but the beauty of this game is it's modular format. It's freaking simple to do, it just takes time to add everything and make sure it's working and time is something I have increasingly less of these days.
This isn't like patching an EA game where your 100-500meg patches are fixing important stuff that never fully worked anyways. These patches are designed to bring all the features (whatever they may be) that were introduced incrementally through the SF/WOX/FE series and produce a more rounded, enjoyable experience for you, irrespective of which one you own.
Right, I'm gonna go have a little lie down.