Yes...well, you are not alone in your sentiment, spaniel.  However, the damn market is dictated by change.  Luckily, some of the companies have figured out that major changes are a bad idea.  So, many of the big sellers (Asics 2000 series and Kayano, and Brooks Adrenaline, etc) come out with yearly updates, but are simply "tweaks" (not to be confused with Candice). 

 

And yeah...Mizuno is nice.  They are on a nice 2 year schedule.  For instance, the Rider 13 just came recently.  In 6 months, they will offer a new colorway.  At one year, they will do a new upper, but make no changes to the midsole build, and call it the Rider 14.  6 months after that, they will do a new colorway again.  Then...after 2 years, the Rider 15 will be a brand new shoe.  Pretty cool schedule.

I wore Riders for about 3 years through multiple updates, and the feel of the shoe never changed.

I have worn Precisions for 4-5 years now and while the uppers look different they have always felt the same.

Before these I used to wear the NB 763.  Awesome shoe.  It seemed like half the people at road races wore that same shoe.  Then they updated to the 764, which was completely different and sucked; nothing in their line replaced the 763.  I can't remember ever seeing someone wear the 764.  It was short-lived and the 765 came out, which seemed to trend back towards the 763 but did not get there.  I don't know what they've done since as Mizuno is perfectly happy to sell me the same shoe 20-25 times without messing it up.

  The 763 was such a good shoe for people, and trying to get 763 wearers to buy the 764 was like trying to get Scout's Mom to keep her clothes on.  Damn near impossible.

Well executed.