"Though right now that Daz Studio has essentially gone subscription based with this Premier nonsense I wonder if I'm willing to invest more at all or look for an alternative."

Yeah, it was only a matter of time before they moved into the subscription model full-throated: you could argue that Daz+/PC+ was that, but that was more for discounts. This is just them trying to prep people for the inevitable full on subscription model for DS5 (which we will see the Nintendo Switch 2 before we ever see DS5) that will make the "free" version completely kneecapped in comparison to the full version. 

All the more reason why Blender has become my go-to for using Daz Studio assets. (Sorry, Poser, y'all blew it big time by having such ungodly prices and taking too long to get Mac support)