I don't know why you guys keep complain about price?
It's not the price, it's the model. Lot's have people have even said they are willing to pay more!
I think most of us have accepted that subscriptions are going to happen, and understand the reasoning from Scirra's point of view and the benefits it will bring to all users, but the rental model Scirra are going for only really works IF you are a full time developer and don't mind not owning the software.
I'm sure this model will be somewhat successful from Scirra's perspective because there are a lot of people who fall into that category, so Scirra will still make a lot of money, but as the response on the forums show, there are many more who don't fall into that category.
There are a couple of simple additions that Scirra could make that I believe would alleviate a lot of the concerns raised about the model, getting more people to adopt C3, making Scirra even more money.
Suspend Subscription: allow users to temporarily suspend their subscription, maybe limited to 4 times per subscription period so it's not abused, so those who don't use C3 for months at a time won't feel like they've wasted the subscription.
Lifetime Subscription: allow users to pay once to use C3 for the lifetime of the software, this could be equivalent to paying 3 to 5 years subscription upfront , and coupled with the stand-alone version will give users a sense of ownership of the software.
As to the "editing lockout" issue, Scirra have partially addressed this by saying they are looking into allowing users to do some edits and re-export previously exported projects, which is fine as far as it goes, but I would like to propose another solution.
Limited Standalone Version: for users whose subscription has lapsed (i.e. only those who have already paid something), allow them to use the standalone version to edit their projects, but make it so it can't be updated or use any export method that requires only services, that way these users incur no ongoing costs for Scirra, and when they are ready, they can re-subscribe to get updates and export.
This might cause a delay in re-subscribing for some users, which might concern Scirra, but it's better to have a delay than to drive people away by the prospect of being locked out of editing their projects.
Ashley and 
Tom are listening, if not necessarily taking action on our suggestions, but hopefully they know that we are only this vocal because we like C2 and the improvements C3 will bring, and we want Scirra to be successful, we just fear they are driving too many of their existing customer base away.