For the company's blind defenders, the price is fair, but the market will provide the answer.
Many customers and friends gave up buying the Player because of this decision: "If I pay the 299 usd for the LVL 3 upgrade, who can guarantee that in a year's time, they won't launch the even more expensive upgrades 4 and 5?"
Many people have a hard time understanding that people chose Kemper for the sound (obviously) and for the business model presented in all these years of Profiler Head and later Stage, to avoid obsolescence and crippleware.
My tip: get out of the forum bubble, read the owner's comments, including on Kemper's official pages.
Not giving a minimum discount to loyal customers was a poor decision.
But what would level 4 and 5 even be? The software at 3 matches the stage - so that makes zero sense.
As for bubbles - sure, at the same time negative comments tend to be way louder. Look at the nano cortex launch and how much people complained - yet it is #2 selling multi effect at Thomann.
As for me, this has me actually return to the eco system because it is exactly what I was looking for.