What is the problem?
When player actively using variations - let’s say, he has some for each of the tracks or muting them to sync with the end of a sequence OR just building the whole performance around the variations feature - there are high chances, he won’t have fast access to patterns. Player should deselect them to see the pattern view, which is much slower, totally not handy at times.
What do you want to achieve?
It would be great to give pattern view a priority, because it shows up only on holding that button and allows you to move your progression further anytime, half a sec. Need variations? Just release it for a moment.
Are there any workarounds?
Not using variations on the same track-rows where you store your patterns (even though patterns could take much more space than just one row).