To be honest, it seems that neither model works. Within the last year we've seen Daybreak cancel EQNext, shutter landmark only months after its release, and proclaim H1Z1 their new flagship franchise. Funcom similarly has just life-supported all 3 of their remaining MMORPGS (Anarchy Online, Age of Conan and The Secret World), while launching similar limited-scope survival horror games like The Park, Conan:Exiles, and the incoming Secret World: Legends. Moreover, Turbine has dumped LoTRO and DDO onto Standing Stone while shuttering the Asheron's Call franchise, then turning their attention to the mobile market.
Time marches on, and it may just be that the MMORPG as we know it has run its course, being too costly no matter how it's done to sustain itself over the years as its fickle user base constantly shifts games. Even successful ventures with more limited massively multiplayer like Elder Scrolls Online and the Destiny franchise seemingly cringe away from the MMO moniker.
PS/ Downix replied at the same time as I did, and I hadn't seen his post while I was writing. I was replying to MGLZadok.