IMO it does lose it's beneficial effects or at least they dampen drastically the longer you are on it.
Tolerance to it does take awhile to come on & even to this day after 5 years, I still get a bit drowsy from it. So it obviously still does a little something, but none of the "mood lift" or craving satisfaction is there anymore. I can take 100mg of bupe (not serious, nobody do this plz lol) and still crave heroin. lol
As for alternatives, I'm not sure. Depends on what your objective is. Do you hate opioids & want to get away from them forever? Or are you some one who realizes they are going to need them one way or the other, possibly forever, like I do? If you're looking to get away from opioids, doing a quick taper is probably your best bet. Otherwise you'll just still be dependent on a highly potent opioid that gives you constipation & drowsiness but none of the actual "good" effects of opioids, unless you put a lot of time in between your dosing, which is difficult. Especially for an opioid addict to do.
That medical journal is definitely pulling your (ours) leg. lol There will always be "tolerance" to opioid drugs whether partial or full agonist, unfortunately.
Buprenorphine did stop a lot of my suicidal ideation. So I give it credit for that. It's not as effective now as it was back then, but I'd probably be worse off without bupe at this point. Or at least some other opioid.