The big question is, why are subscription fees staying the same since launch of the game and since the dawn of MMOs? I mean there is inflation and higher cost for marketing and employees and all that since MMOs started but it is still only 12.99 most of the time.

So why is that...? Yes cause stuff like the cashshop exist. It's a nice way to allow "poor" people to also enjoy the game at low sub costs and gives players who pump the money for them into the company a neat reward in return.

Always remember, your sub fee isn't covering anything but the bare bare necessities. If SE doubles the sub fee and THEN still keeps the cash shop the same you can complain. But at this moment a huge part of the playerbase is only able to play this game cause the cashshop exists. MMOs don't make huge profits compared to other games, MMOs are costly to maintain and to think that all that has to be covered by a sub fee that never is actually changed despite any higher production costs or inflation is just insane on your part.

Also play BDO for a bit where outfits cost 50 bucks and almost all dyes are bound to the cashshop if you don't want to play for years to get the dye you actually need.