I closed my Photobucket account a few days ago. I barely use it any more anyway because the interface is total ass, and I mostly use either imgur or my own site these days.
The only reason anyone is going to pay for a feature they've been able to get for free from every site for the past decade is because they've already got a ton of pictures on Photobucket, but I think Photobucket are overestimating how much people are willing to be held random for, for the sake of short term convenience.
Sure, a very small percentage of people will take the hit, at least for now, but I don't see it being sustainable long term. You can get your own website with infinite storage space for cheaper than this rort. I expect a change of plans and price drops within a year, or they'll just fade away.