Since when can’t we manually edit the query string produced in the Query Builder?
The only way now is to edit the query text in the saved API folder php files.
The 4.4.5 Query Builder is a very limited tool.
Why don’t we have Modification rights as we used to have?
Query builder generates the query for you. This has always been the case.
If you want to write your own query use the custom query action.
As I recall, the Query builder gave me the query in a separate window so that I could modify it and save directly.
Nope. Query builder queries were always locked unless you used custom queries.
Maybe you are mixing custom query component with single/multi/paged query component.