I don't think the price of the release copy is that high at all.If they can fix the ridiculously overpriced new store and start treating their consumers like they care about them at all, I have a ton of friends and myself who are more than willing to invest thousands collectively into this game.
You are complaining of the fact that you are forced to pay a steep price for upping to alpha at this point - even though Frontier _specifically warned_ people that the arrival of the store would end the easy pledge upgrade path. It is a store now, not a continuation of the Kickstarter pledge system. The fact that they offer upgrade at all is customer service - because so many people asked for it after they started viewing the gameplay videos. But Frontier cannot offer the upgrade for free because that would anger the Kickstarter backers.
Remember, there was ample warning before the pledge channel closed and the store opened. Don't complain if you were just slow to take advantage of it.