Actually, it was lain who initially made the suggestion in 2009, but m0d really made a good case with that video 1½ year later. And yes, the new single-track mode (auto-collapse?) makes a lot of sense in such a scenario.
Well, did you try? Holding shift will allow you to schedule any number of patterns 
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As for improving the pattern-sequence, we really should add tool-tips to the pattern-loop squares and everywhere it makes sense to do so. Some parts of the Renoise interface are assumed as common knowledge, but a bunch of squares is just a bunch of squares until you understand their purpose…