Why Are Dragons Not Free?

Item Stores
The developers behind Istaria have made a decision that they don't want an item store in Istaria - instead - everyone who plays has equal opportunity to build and expand their character. Many games have item stores or some sort of pay for experience / advancement / etc., which also means that the person who has the most money in real life can buy their advancement quickest, and in some cases, the only way to advance. The developers feel that is not a fair play environment. Advancement should be based on merit play, not "biggest wallet play".
 
Level Limited Characters 

Level limited characters provide a way for players to access and experience Istaria, as well as a way to have unpaid access so friends can hang out with friends, while still maintaining a way for the server costs, staff costs, etc. to be paid. It's important to note that Istaria does not have any sort of pay to level quicker or pay for double xp, etc. that many other games have. All players progress at the same rate, regardless or paid vs unpaid. Subscriptions are a way to cover facility costs. At the end of day, there has to be a source of revenue somewhere.
 
In Summary 

For all games on the internet, it's a big decision on how to create revenue that covers the costs of operating and developing a game. The developers of Istaria have made this decision with the interest of making the game world more fair, encouraging merit play and preventing real world dollars from buying advancement.