Having people pay to test the game for an entire year seems like a really bad idea if they want the game to maintain any momentum and have a healthy playerbase. If they're really that low on cash, they should just implement a cosmetic-items-only cash shop, then in a year decide if they still want to add a subscription fee or if they should just continue using micro-transactions.
Also, it's too bad that you can't check a server's population anymore. It would be really interesting to see a before and after count for when the subscription fee goes into effect.
I bet a large portion of the people still playing only do so because the game is free. If I recall correctly, the last 2 times they announced the introduction of the subscription fee, they ended up extending the free trial at the last minute. I wonder if they'll do the same thing again if there's a large enough drop in the population. Or maybe they'll just use it as an excuse to cancel the game, who knows.