Knowing Steinberg, they usually do not give anything about our opinion and do what they feel best. Just take a dive into the FR section and certain FR’s that still aren’t ported, open Bugfix requests, still not handled support (just go over to KVR and GearSlutz) - just to name a few issues.
But with all the trouble that a lot(!) of us user are having with Cubase 7, the ASIO engine (OS independent), the “Maverick” issue, certain showstoppers like “window handling” (always on top bug comes to mind), the Insert Handling (could still drop certain F-Bombs), etc… It would only be fair to NOT ask for any money until Cubase 8.
But knowing Steinbergs history, that is highly unlikely.
Still voted for “free” though.