Well, shit. While the game could mostly be seen as a living museum and hardly attractive to new people, it's a sad thing to have so many updates and free access axed because "fuck you". I bet they'll completely shut it down 4 months after going subscription only, because "it's not profitable" (no shit!)
This kind of thing makes me so angry. If the game is so old, how is it hurting anyone to reverse engineer it and keep its tiny group of fans happy. I know the answer. It's rhetorical.
i played again last year a whole bunch!!! it was really nice and fun. but i stopped after a major figure who helped newer players get into the game (myself and my dad included) was basically harassed off the game by people being trolls, and the devs did nothing, so i guess i'm not surprised that talks fell through