It's worth mentioning (in my opinion) that this could be a symptom of a large skill gap among the player community. I think it's easy for us to forget that not everyone who plays Dominion frequents these forums, or reads strategy articles, or is familiar with all of the cards. A combo or synergy that may seem obvious to a veteran player will elude a newbie every time. Yes, BM is not as good as a properly functioning engine, but the BM player probably doesn't know how to build a properly functioning engine yet.
Further complicating this is that in 1st edition Base set, gold was (arguably) the best card in the game. I'm guessing a lot of people didn't challenge that assumption and always go for gold, and try to play as many gold as possible. Gold does have it's place in today's game too. When it's not possible to build a treasureless deck, gold will provide economy. I think in some situations, having access to the treasure cards drastically speeds up the game. Gold and silver a re a fail safe that can keep a boring kingdom from being a boring and painfully slow kingdom. Keeping the game fun for as many people as possible is the goal, not making the best things for a 2 player game.