Pay to play? Zounds!

Most of the time you hear about games going from subscription to free to play - this time it's backwards. Blade and Soul publisher NCSoft has confirmed its going to be subscription fee, for KRW 23,000 (which is about $20 bucks in USD). The real question is if Blade and Soul will be able to thrive off of the subcription service, like EVE Online or World of Warcraft before it. And if it doesn't, will it go free to play? And what happens when it hits Western shores?