You want to get new players not people who damn their experience.
Btw. If you don't want to spend money on the game, it's your problem. Wait for a free weekend and pay the full price.
A Free weekend wont diminish the servers as its ptp but yer ur right it may put them off the way the ptp is right now.I do have the game i got it day one.
I think free-to-play makes a lot more sense than a starter edition. For honor is heavy on team-play so getting people to try it out with their friends and than capitalizing on it makes a lot more sense. It's done wonders for LoL and DOTA