Basically, the only difference between AO and a true subscription game is that you have the (illegal) option to buy your monthly sub from Chinese gold farmers. It remains to be seen whether or not AO can live up to the increased expectations of players who pay a subscription fee. Given the present advantages of premium, an argument from SI that it does not equate to a subscription as it is optional would be quite ridiculous indeed.

Please take note of my post above, not because I'm preaching/ dick-swinging from my soapbox, but because you have in effect very clearly priced yourself as a $10/mo game (based average Gold prices in the official AlbionMall and the rate of Gold:premium time conversion). This is a very big decision, and I hope SI as a whole have considered the implications of charging for the boxed product as well as a monthly 'freemium' as you are setting yourself up for direct comparison with the very biggest AAA blockbuster subscription-based online games.

It would be a very simple step (if upon reevaluation of this you decide to be more price-competitive) to reduce the cost of premium (in game, in Gold) to whatever fraction you desire (indeed, I fully believe a drop in 30 days sub from 2500 to 1000 Cheap Albion Online Gold would render this entire discussion a non-issue) with no impact on existing purchases*.

Pardon my brevity, but if you fuck this up now and are forced to take a step Buy Albion Online Gold like above retroactively (post-launch), it will be a huge red-flag to the community that the game is struggling financially, and I can't remember the last time such a thing did anything but accelerate the speed of failure (think consumer confidence; runs on banks; etc. etc.)