Yup, Native Instruments is going to get their cut one way or another. You can pay them up front with your purchase of Kontakt, or you can pay them over time as you buy subsequent libraries. Either way, you're gonna pay.
I think owning full Kontakt is worthwhile despite the price tag. If you use a lot of sample libraries, it will save you money in the long run. Not to mention opening up many new options - I'd guess that only about 5% of the Kontakt libraries in the world are compatible with the player. That means there's a whole lot of cool (and far cheaper) stuff out there waiting to be discovered.
Once upon a time, some developers would offer two versions, one for the player and one for full Kontakt. The former would always be more expensive than the latter. Sadly, NI put the kibosh on that practice, so now all libraries are one or the other.