I asked about way back, but seems is a contentious, with a lot of people saying its only x££ so just buy it once and map away.
They say you don’t need to update for the flashy new features, just buy once and you’re golden. (all well and good and somewhat valid)
However if you have **any **problems or issues, the very first troubleshooting step is making sure you have the latest release - Obviously, as they may have fixed your.
If you look at the totally massive long list of Fix’s and resolutions and updates in 4.6 for example
Over 230 fix’s, not to mention additions and changes that fix vulnerabilities or limitations in the previous version. even after all that there was a separate hotfix for more issues…
Now don’t go off half cocked, I’m *not *complaining, fixing and updates are part of the process, but what it means is really for anyone like OP, who wants to map, or give back to the community, they will be looking at keeping a current subscription.
£240a year to make a few maps for UT4 is £220 more than it was for UT2004, UT3. Not something you can start doing on a whim, or even try out to see if it’s something you want to pay that much for.
I have no idea what the current state of things are regarding at Epic, if they can fork a version to be used for only modding for UT4, that’s buy once update free and only has the ability to release modifications to the epic store for UT4 Game, because that would solve the.
You may disagree about the need to update, if so then the one off payment is fine and I agree the cost is worth it.
But if as a new user finding out that the months you took learning basic C++ and the UE4 platform and all associated resources is going to really cost you 10 times as much every year, it may not be something you can afford or have budgeted for, and will leave you feeling more annoyed at Epic than you should, or they deserve.
I think that student offer is great, but there are other demographics that could benefit from such a free version that don’t get that option.
I just know post is going to be a mistake, but meh always nice to clear the air, even if it’s only in my mind 
Tongue in cheek below =p mostly
(Or Epic could be specifically targeting demographic and releasing updates designed to make sure they feel compelled to keep the subscription current)
(Or at management level, they may be purposely having high subscription model to discourage poorer, disadvantaged people, as they are more likely to make bad, lame games)