No player is playing for free.
The Test server is available for playing on regardless if you have a subscription, but the test server is down more than it is up.
Nobody is playing the Live Server without subscription.
heck i got billed 2 weeks before i though i was going to since thats how paypal subscriptions work. they even screwed me out of paying for next month hosting for my vps today and that bill isn't even generated yet.