Yeah, I ran into that same pricing wall when I was updating my design tools. The good news is you can get a pre-owned license legally. I picked up Autodesk Inventor Professional 2025 through a trusted reseller that specializes in second-hand licenses. Everything was above board — license transfer, activation, and support included. If you want to explore this route, this is where I bought mine: https://procadis.com/editions/autodesk-inventor-professional-2025/ . Saved me a significant amount and no issues so far.