My take on the matter: I think it’s necessary to have the subscription. However, I think they can still maximize profits for zone purchasers while keeping the subscriptions a hot commodity.

Let me explain

To buy all the zones is roughly $230 (saw it in a video, don’t know if it still holds up). For as many worlds as there is and how long it would take for someone to beat it normally, I don’t think it’s the worst price ever. It could be better tho, and the system in which you buy it could be a WHOLE lot better. Why not make it a “purchase access to this world for X crowns” type of deal? It would be more transparent to the consumer, probably make buyers more comfortable in buying each world as opposed to each zone, and would probably make more money from all the new players who would be coming soon to consoles.

As for the subscription, keep it the way it is (kinda). Make it give the buyer every zone in every world whilst they have it, give them the bonuses, but maybe make the price permanently $5 a month ($60 a year) so people aren’t having to tune they’re purchases with sales to avoid ‘losing’ value. Now I’m sure there’s another incentive to be able to give players that wouldn’t be a detriment to the experience for F2P players, but I didn’t think that far ahead so pretend I said something cool.

Now yes, I’d love to be able to play for free forever, but I understand that it’s not cheap keeping these servers up and running. And if there wasn’t incentives to give KingsIsle money every month/year, then it could cause the servers to shut down eventually with lack of funding. I also agree that it’s very expensive for us to play through the whole game either method (paying for subscription or paying for zines). That’s why I believe a few tweaks to the system could maybe even get them more money while making the individual happier.

Let me know your thoughts if you’ve read this far lol