I have used the old forum for support a lot in the past and thought it was a great solution. I have gotten fast support from the helpful and friendly community, and expert advice and knowledge from Drew and Rachel. I appreciate that its open as I have been helped so many times from other people who have already asked and answered my question.
The new forum and wording (from support to forum) makes me worried, is developer support no longer a thing? Was it ever supposed to be a thing? Installing a forum and then relying on your community to support your product really isn't support. While the documentation is good it isn't good enough to stand on its own.
For an extra 50 dollars craft cms does everything perch does, has more documentation and more importantly developer support. The weakened commitment to support kills perch's offering as a professional cms, and it worries me a lot.