Absolutely agree. A lot can happen in a year, if you're not certain of your financial situation, don't sign up for this.

It's worth noting that there is zero downside to this. If you sign up and don't pay for a month, all you lose is the ability to play diablo 3 and use your pony- which were FREE to begin with. So if it gets to the point where you want to take a break- u can take it, no financial ramifications. Just no more free stuff.

Hmmph. If you know you're not going to be cancelling within the next year (and you do know that if you sign up for the annual pass), then it'd be silly to not take advanage of the $12.99 per month rate you get when you buy six months at a time. So, you're committing to pay at least $155.88, not "nearly $200". If you choose to pay more than that, that's fine, but that's all you're committed to. If you were likely to keep subscribed most of that time anyhow, but were paying month-to-month for the flexibility, what you've committed to is actually saving you money, even without considering the value of the extras.

I like to think of it as a mobile contract.