It seems that SE's PR department could do them a huge favor by just simplifying how they post their prices. Some details just cause confusion. No one is going to pay for the monthly service and not have at least 1 active character so they can play it. Why don't they just say..
Reg Subscription Price: $12.99/mo for additional characters add $3/ea
Discounted Subscription Price: $9.99/mo for additional characters add $3/ea
Just stop listing the character fee separately... Additional character fee, sure, but don't even have show an option that no one is going to use. No one in their right mind is going to pay for the game subscription and not have a single character to actually play the game with.
Also..
^ This is exactly it. You like to think that if you pay for the game, that every single piece of content will be available to participate in (assuming you spend the time on it).
While I tend to prefer SE's way of letting you work on growing one character instead of splitting my attention between many, I can totally see why people would like to have one from each city-state/grand company. Especially those who like the story aspect of these kind of games. I think to include three character slots would be very reasonable. I personally wish they would. Then charge whatever they want from there on, charge $5.00 per additional character past the three for all I care because past three, really is a vanity situation.
Another reason why I can see people wanting additional characters is that some (like me) have friends that don't play as often as they do. Because there is no "Level Sync" System here, I personally had made a second character, because neither I nor my friend think we should be "required" to powerlevel our way through in order to play together. We don't find being power leved enjoyable. We'd rather play to actually play and experience things at the levels intended, not just to be "ran through". People complain about Level-Sync being a form of powerleveling, but hey, I'd take it any day over the way people are power leveled now. At least when Level-Sync'd, people were actively participating in their own leveling.... but that is a whole other topic...