Patch notes cannot be likened to strategy guides anymore than mmos should be likened to console games.

Mysteries are part of the livlihood of console games, while transparency is the guiding light in the mmo genre. SE needs to be upfront about what they're presenting as, as mentioned before, it informs the current playerbase and acts as a bit of advertising as well. Besides all that, SE still isn't nearly as transparent as other games in their update notes, but it's my opinion that they are forthcoming enough to still leave thay exploration bit.

On phone now so not gonna go find actual example but it's clear to see the difference when patch notes in other games sounds like this:

The recast time for the ability "Pwnz0r" has been reduced from 30s to 20s.
Abilities with an aura have had their radius increase from 10' to 12'.
Mage spells increase in powers by tiers. For each 10 INT, 100 damage is added.

Or how FFXIV patch notes are:
TP consumption for weapon skills used in combos is reduced.
The area of effect for Conjurer spells has been increased.
<Insert cryptic auto-attack table in last patch notes>

Yeah, there's a difference .