I was also ready to be up in arms about this, though I saw that recently patreon-exclusive nodes (I think the ones this is in reference to) will be available to all as of 1.21 (which currently is not available on my itch downloads page, but I assume it will be sometime soon..?) - https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-21-removing-155469781
I think I would be more ok with patreon-exclusive nodes as a sort of supporter bonus IF it were possible and documented for everyone to develop custom nodes that can be as easily dropped into PXC projects as the official ones, and it weren't an exclusive proprietary part of the tool that I bought understanding it to be a full version.