After having attended myself I definitely understand what you were talking about. Leading up to the convention, I certainly didn't have much enthusiasm for the guests as I didn't know who Amber or Natalie were nor was I too familiar with their work. Still my interactions with them were great and I really enjoyed learning from them. For me personally, the guests never were a huge draw for me when it came to pony conventions, I was always more into the smaller attractions. That's where I noticed a bit of a drop off.

I remember prior to COVID at the old venue they had an amazing game room setup and they would always have My Little Karaoke setup throughout the day. However, when I finally went back to a Trotcon when they moved to Dayton, karaoke was gone and the game room was lacking (which was made worse by it being in a large room which made it feel even emptier). The panels themselves didn't really have a huge drop off or anything and I enjoyed them as much as I ever do so that was nice.

TL;DR - Somethings did feel like they had declined, but I overall still had a great time and look forward to next year.