Regardless of weather you agree or disagree about the whole character thing, there is no reason it should cost a lot. 3$ is expensive, and most people, from .. EVERY OTHER MMO who is USED to having multiple slots will instantly see it as 3$ x 8 (or w/e common value they are into). I see it in comments all the time whenever XIV has an article "lol this game is so expensive!" Its just way to complicated for the player, they should make slots free, no reason to be greedy.

That said, you can actually login to your account from multiple locations, you just cannot get onto a character(s) from different locations once one has been logged in. You just go to the character selection screen and trying to select any characters results in an error. It was possible in Alpha to actually do this but was restricted later. It is quite common to restrict so I dont see it being changed. RMT issues or account sharing etc. 8 friends could just use 1 account at 13/month or w/e, rather than 8 friends having seperate accounts and SE making 8x13/month, so from a business perspective, no it will never happen.