Related to the subject, people already said it, but the game, as of 1.20, which seems like pay to play is being aligned with, will most definitely make the game worthy enough to pay for.

And besides the point, if you look at it from a business aspect, Square Enix obviously plans to do a full revival of the game come 2.0. When you look at it this way, having 16,000 (as a random number example) play the game for free, versus 12,000 people paying for the game, the decision becomes obvious. They're more worried about who is going to play FFXIV on its second release... not so much who is playing now.

That said, I'm totally fine with that. I enjoy the game now, so they're getting my $12.95 a month.