Funnily enough I also went back to music after a huge break, at the beginning of the first plague lockdowns, and had a very similar experience to you in terms of prices and updates. My version of Cubase Pro still worked after 8 years of inactivity, and I could also upgrade it for less than 150 pounds to latest version, so did that.
Was suitably delighted to find that all my main synths / VST's still worked as well, and much to my relief, Keyscape and Omnisphere. And I was feeling very warm and fuzzy about permanent licences, but still had a problem - I was going back to music to learn to orchestrate, and I needed some proper orchestral firepower, and a lot of it, straight away !! I would have had to have spent thousands to get what I needed.
Fortunately, didn't take me long to find EastWest's Composer Cloud, which allowed me access to a vast array of VSTs and EFX including enough orchestral stuff to get started, for less than $15 a month ! So I was able to use that subscription for a year whilst I built up a collection of higher quality instruments I now had time to save for, and now I have permanent licenses for most of the Spitfire Audio Library, which makes me very very happy. 🙂 And, to my surprise, SA keep finding new ways to sell me their more recent VSTs, but they do it with genuinely innovative new products, frequent sales with meaningful amounts off, and generous discounts for people who already own key libraries. They also give away an astonishing amount for free via their LABS instrument, so in my eyes that REALLY makes them good guys - fair prices, permanent licensing, generous discounts, amazing support. I also bought VSTi Serum, not only because it filled any remaining gaps in my synthesizer department (for the very few things Omnisphere is overkill for) but also because I wanted to support and encourage their (pioneering at the time) rent-to-buy plans, which really are, for me, the ultimate holy grail of 'fair play' in digital retail !
So as big a fan as I remain of perpetual licenses, and even more so of rent-to-buy, I was also glad in that first instance that EastWest's Composer Cloud subscription was available. The final stage in my music plans involves cancelling subs to Composer Cloud next year, but perma-buying the 2 items from it that I use constantly - Hollywood Choirs and Spaces II convolution reverb as perpetuals, both of which are still available, and pretty reasonably priced.
Happy musicings !
CBR