Hi Tom - I received the same email. It is unfortunate Autodesk does not offer a licensing tier for hobbyists that adds key features, but doesn’t cost a fortune. There is no reason they can’t tier the capabilities like Vectric or Carveco, but offer much better value than those two.
I should note they do occasionally have a sale that is usually 20-30% – I would look out for that. I invested in a 3 year license doing 30% off sale and I don’t regret it. I do, however, dread the day when I need to purchase the next round - it will undoubtedly be close to 1500 vs the 800 I paid (yes, 800 for 3 years).
All that said, when you look at something like Vectric Aspire at $2000, Fusion is in the same price range, but under subscription model making the break even point around 3 years (assuming Vectric is truly a perpetual license and they don’t pull back in the future like so many companies have done already). If we compare to Caveco at 3000/year or 8000 for perpetual, then 2000 looks like a sweet, sweet deal.
-Tom