Hi Space Badger!
Glad to see that you are still with us after the terrible events that have befallen your country recently.
And here am I, still waiting for 4.2.2(or 4.3) for the GT-I9100.
Oh! bless you. You've been posting on here and waiting patiently for a firmware update for almost a year now.
Do you mind if I give you my opinion?
Lets start in reverse order with Android 4.3. In a word... Nightmare! 4.3 has 2 purposes...
1. To add support for the Galaxy Gear.
2. To lock bootloaders and introduce Knox Security to handsets with an uncrackable warranty flag. See my post...
Knox Security & locked bootloader on new firmwares. For ordinary users, Knox makes no difference but is a pain in the rear for rooters which is why I think that Samsung introduced the S4 Google Edition which does not have this. Couple that with the problems that 4.3 has brought with the initial release that meant that the roll-out was halted because of firmware problems, see
AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/T-Mobile/US Cellular pull Android 4.3 update, and you may understand why I am not a big fan of it.
As for Android 4.2.2... this is the release that I jumped to after leaving the SGS2 for the S4 and, IMHO, I wondered what all the fuss was about. To all intents and purposes, a good NEAT ROM on, say, MS1 is really not a lot different, feature wise, to 4.2.2 and a lot less battery thirsty.
I still get to play with my SGS2 as the lady who bought it from me brings it around to be updated with the latest NEAT ROM from time to time and it is like seeing an old friend. It is still on the same battery after 30 months and has never needed a repair and looks as good as new.
Personally, I do not think that 4.2.2 will come to the SGS2 as it has now been out for a year already. Even if it did, IMHO, it would place an unfair demand on your battery for little or no practical gain.
Instead, I suggest that either NEAT ROM or, if you like the spartan, pure, Android feel, CyanogenMod, who now have a ROM Installer app out, see
CyanogenMod One Click Installer, would be better choices.
In the words of the old saying... "Be careful what you wish for... it might come true!"