They quite clearly stated when FFXIV first came out that the cost per month would be $12 - broken up into a subscription fee and a character fee. This gave people the flexibility for people to pay for the number of characters you want to play and to pay for the number of retainers. So why are people complaining about the $3 character fee. It isn't something they have just tacked on, it is something that has always been there. If you want to add to the server load by having the data for 2 characters and all their information and items, then you pay more.

I am not going to subsidise the ability for you to play as many characters as you want when I am quite happy with one. Nothing is free. You want it you pay for it, If you don't want to pay then you have to manage with only one character.