I don't disagree with much of what you're saying, SS. In fact, PinkCouture used to run a Marisa fan forum and when she set up a poll to see which issue was everyone's favorite, the overwhelming winner was her Iowa shoot - in other words, the one she did that had nothing to do with the beach. But I do see a tad bit of hypocrisy going on here. A lot of people are saying this issue was better than last year's (at least marginally), when this year's locations are all incredibly cliche while the choice of locations last year was far more creative. (I particularly remember Genevieve and some other models posing at an airport with WWII planes.) In other words, we demand more creativity as fans, and yet we dismiss that creativity when we see it and blast the issue anyway.
Not to mention, I think you have to factor in the business side of things. A huge part of the issue is advertising. Will advertisers be as interested if the issue is taken in a suddenly unexpected direction? Advertisers don't care about creativity. They're paying tons of money to get their ads in a known commodity: a magazine with hot women posing in bikinis on beaches.