I've regularly attended C3 since back when it was still in Berlin and I'm not sure growing the event every year is desirable. Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with the goal of making it more accessible to everyone and I know the "ticket lottery" is miserable, especially if you don't end up getting one.

But the overall vibe of the event definitely changed for the worse (imho) with the move to Leipzig simply because the venue there is mostly focused on trade fairs and thus just so much more wide-open with everything much further apart. In Hamburg you'd constantly run across people you know in the hallways due to the compact horizontal layout, and the overall atmosphere was just a bit cozier. It was still a great event in Leizpig, but for me at least it really didn't compare to the previous iterations in Hamburg.

It's definitely a difficult trade-off to make and I'm glad I'm not the one making these decisions.