Why were the mode select options removed? Options for expand and extend. I know about hotkeys. These settings are rarely used, and a popup menu is sufficient. Now they use close and convenient hotkeys, but these options are rarely used.
This is not a rational use of keyboard space. Instead of three hot keys with options, there are now twelve without options, which are rarely used. Please return the popup for selection mode. 
I’m gonna have to agree to disagree on this one. Having a direct access to face/edge/vert mode is a gamechanger for me, and is one of the best changes in 2.8.
I never liked the popup selector, as it didn’t really save me any time over just clicking the icons in the header.
But everyone is different, so what works for me may not work for you.
Modo…
The Pie Menu Editor addon is a great way to restore this kind of lost functionality since it lets you make more than just pies. I ended up liking 1, 2, 3 but recreated the 2.7 menus and overrode the (IMHO bad) 2.8 pies.
I also use pme. I redid and added more than 150+ hotkeys, pop-up menus and pie menus. I started to switch to version 2.8 and felt indescribable pain and suffering. For the extend and expend options, I use shift and ctrl + mouse wheel. Due to the lack of possibility to select parameters for the selection mode, it is impossible to repeat hotkeys from 2.79. Using nine hot keys for a tool that is rarely used, while these hot keys are right at hand, not rational. Instead of these nine hot keys (different selection modes), can be assign tools that are often used
The question is not about whether pie menu is better or 123, the question is that pop-up menus with settings were removed.