The game has changed now from Pay to Play to Free to play, but they allow for players to buy special ships and stuff for real money, but you can play the whole game for free now.
so they aren't making as much money as they thought they would, they had to resort to this. i bet all the people who paid to play for the past year and a half are ticked off. i'm glad i didn't fall victim to them. o well. i'm past wanting to play this game anymore. it was fun, but too much trouble finding good servers and players alike.