I don't think the big problem is the automation. It's there. And it works. Ok, it could be part of the playlist and it should then work out really well. But in the end, the automation is there.
What I'm missing more sometimes is that effects have no graphical equivalent. Meaning, that you just have knobs but nothing to look at and especially something like FabFiler Pro does. It's just great to slide the little round circle through the frequency spectrum and adjust the sound.