From what I'm seeing, the Masterpiece line is about taking classic characters and giving them new figures with current toy engineering. Since they're 'updating' classic characters, it's not hard to see why some people think the Masterpiece line is about 'updates'.
I think this is the issue. Personally, yes, I think Beast Wars deserves 'recognition' in the form of new figures, Masterpiece or not - it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to the franchise. I think it's good that some season 1 characters have had new toys made in the Classics/Universe/Generations lines and are more screen-accurate as a result. The question seems to be whether or not Optimus Primal would 'benefit' from the Masterpiece treatment, because the original figure is already considered very good and just needed a few tweaks to make it more screen-accurate. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement, just that that improvement may not be as easy to see as it is between a G1 toy and its corresponding Masterpiece figure.