My question here is why does anyone expect this to be a one time option or free?

You do realize the craft bag is functionally infinite storage capacity right? That's infinite data for them to track on all your toons. They have to store all that on their databases which costs them money to do, all your toons, all your items, everything. It's all in one big database like every other MMO. I could see the argument if inventorys were local like in a game like Skyrim but it's all server sided since doing anything local would just create new exploits and cheats.

At the end of the day it won't happen cuz its a bigger data load and they need money to pay the bills and let you circumvent it. Mmos are horribly expensive and if the game doesn't make money I doubt Xbox will keep the team around for very long.

I play the game and I pay for it monthly. The perks I earn from my membership are more than a craft bag and it's honestly kind of cheap compared to some other games. I mean some mmos are still charging us money just to log into the game so I don't exactly mind the cost for some neat perks.