agreed on pretty much every point, including keeping official WordCamps affordable. I understand the comparisons to other events and the differences are there, and that's OK. as WP matures, there will be a growth in the event space, with more focused events that have those perks, and charge for them. I'm looking forward to that.

personally, I'd love to see a more developer focused WordPress event, without users or marketing or even business tracks. this clearly wouldn't appeal to everyone, and that's fine. but I would get value from it. and I'd expect to pay more for it. the average cost of the non WP conferences I've attended in the last two years is about $600 per ticket.