(I think I remember someone saying they can more or less "type in events" just by getting really good with the keyboard shortcuts.) There's also the back and next buttons to easily switch between conditions and objects while preserving as much state as possible. So I think it's closer to keyboard-navigable than some people think.
Yep, I very rarely use the mouse in the event editor. With C2's keyboard shortcuts, windows keyboard shortcuts, tab, search bars, arrow keys, and the like, you can "type out" events very quickly. The only time things are slow is when I'm filling out default array or dictionary info or something...but even then you could type out strings in local vars and run loops to split them up into arrays and such.
The alternate UI is interesting but I don't feel it's better or worse, just different. I like that I can see everything at once...but it's not really necessary. With the current system I can find everything I need quickly and easily, only seeing what matters in a given step of the process.