Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I've recently started using 3 silver accounts from old paid accounts from over five years ago. The reason I stopped playing was my wife and I started a family and there was no room in my life for EQ. I recently heard about the F2P and thought I'd give it a shot. This is a perfect concept for me:
1) I can't afford to subscribe to 3 accounts and play once or twice a week for a few hours
2) If priced right, I can purchase unlocks/services to throttle my use under F2P
If I'm paying $2.50 to unlock 100 AAs and it takes me 1-2 months to earn those 100 AAs, I rather do that than pay the subscription. In the end SoE is getting their money, but it better matches my use. Things like mercenaries if priced appropriately would fall under this model as well. Those that are playing an amount which is on par with a subscription will likely far exceed the cost of a subscription if they attempt to do so with unlocking and services. It all works out in the end.