Well, I think there is one point worth mentioning.
Go visit the CharOp board (the character optimization - or "min-maxing" forum on WotC's D&D discussion site Gleemax:
http://forums.gleemax.com/forumdisplay.php?f=867) and what do you notice?
Almost all the class guides point you towards AV gear for your characters. Swords, suits of armor, amulets - the AV stuff is almost universally preferred over the PHB stuff.
I don't see how the presence of powercreep can be shown more clearly...
Whether it's a problem to you as the reader is one thing, but I firmly believe powercreep is an aspect too often glossed over by reviews.