I personally believe it would behoove Graal Online as a business if they opened up forum registrations to everyone, since they are moving towards a different pricing model for things. When a video game goes Free to Play, you rely on microtransactions and the hope that your game is popular enough that 2-5 dollars is enough money when multiplied out by hundreds or thousands of customers.
If you put up barriers between your game and its online community, you risk crippling the potential for more customers and thus more money.
In that sense, I believe the Graalians forum to be doing Graal Online quite a service in supporting the community. It is integral to making money, oh... and making friends and such
Anywho, I hope our opinions help you in the upgrade process. I realize forum care-taking can be very stressful!