Yes, I added up the cost of my old board, pedals, power and cables and I came to over £4k. It still wasn't as good/flexible as my PowerHead and it was a lot more hassle to set up/trace ground loop issues/troubleshoot power and cable problems. I still have it in the container but haven't used it since I got my head in 2018.
Indeed. While I've been using mine more and more... we don't notice how SO much more expensive pedalboards are because the things on it are being purchased individually. Sure this paid upgrade business model isn't cool, but put it in perspective and put your emotions aside: at the end of the day it's like the price of one or 2 pedals to basically turns your device into the next tier up. People have been whining for years on endless threads online about how they just want a small portable Kemper with everything but the profiling and now that it's out for like a grand and a half, the outrage is hard to understand. I think it triggers some psychological aversion we have about paying for software vs paying for hardware (sales of boutique pedals aren't slowing down). Still not for me thought, I need the footswitches!