I prefer something new once in a while thank you very much.So you can play your favorite game for years!
And that's the problem with what they want to offer. They really need to think of extra content that would make the game more enjoyable to elite players without making them better by default from the free players.As time goes by there is going to be a wider and wider gap between the power of the elite membership players and the "free" membership players.
Maybe exclusive story/mini-games areas, exclusive events that give exclusive ranks etc., but no better equipment or other stuff that affects balance between players.