I've held off on XLN synths for the last year for exactly that reason.   I've never had my DAW online, partly for security but also because I have no connection of any kind in my studio.    But between the free AD and the $29 AK sale, I'm finally giving in.... though I will be online only when it's actually necessary.
 

Well I'm not even going to mess with it. SD3, BFD Eco and ezDrummer will do. Along with all the xp packs I get for them.
 
Now get this, when X2 came out, I was not going to get anything more to go along with it. Just the program. But I ended up getting all the Overloud stuff because I liked it, wanted it and now it's on my computer. Money spent to a company I will continue to deal with.
 
XLN made a bad choice IMHO. None of my money spent there.