There shouldn't be an 88% price increase except in one particular scenario. This figure would only be true in one specific case - you once had Corona 7 with 3 free render nodes, which you cancelled, and now you return, as the render nodes are no longer free. (But they did stay free if you did not cancel your license and it's been running since before Corona 8).
Also as a note even then most of that price increase would have been true 2 years ago with the release of Corona 8, when free render nodes were discontinued. The difference between Corona + 2 render nodes in 2022 and Corona + 2 render nodes in 2024 with the latest price change is also nowhere near an 88% price increase.
So most users are not seeing anything near as dramatic as an 88% price increase.
EDIT - also this is only true if you choose Premium, which includes Phoenix and more, which were not included in the Corona 7 and earlier licenses and had to be purchased separately. So the 88% increase is not comparing apples to apples. There is still the Solo license, which is much more like what the old Corona 7 and earlier licenses were.
You're missing a few points here Tom. The average freelancer doesn't need the software 24/7 365. Their income is sporadic as is their workload. So the whole allure of monthly was that you could drop it and pick it up again as and when you needed it at an affordable price point. But if the response is "you cancelled so blame yourself for losing out" it kinda defeats the object of the rolling monthly subscription in the first place.
I'm pretty sure I did an exact apples for apples comparison of the price increase in another thread and it was over 1000% in the last 24 months - don't fact check me on this
The other point that weighs heavily for freelancers is that they can work from anywhere, they're not 'node locked' by nature, but Chaos have gone and made Solo node locked. The floating licence element of our older subscriptions was a major element that you haven't addressed at all. This forced a lot of us to choose Premium over Solo.
So let's really compare apples with apples.
Monthly Corona Floating License + 3 Render Nodes
October 2022 = 30 Euros a month
March 2024 = 259.86 Euros a month
That is a 766.2% increase in the space of 17 months however you decide to look at it.
Yes that is for that specific scenario but either way it's still obscene.
By way of comparison - 3DS Max Indie costs 420 euros for an entire year.
Can you imagine if you went and did your monthly shop in October 2022 and it cost for example, 1000 euros, then you decided not to shop there for a few months, and when you went back in in March 2024 and bought the exact same things, the cashier tells you the total is 7666 euros. You'd lose your mind or laugh in their face and walk out leaving your shopping on the conveyor belt.