I ended up subscribing to the suite after having to call Adobe because their web store would not let me (and apparently others) buy the upgrade for LR5. I finally had to call Adobe, and the first question I was asked was what I thought of the cloud concept. I told the guy I didn’t like it one bit. He was unusually well prepared for this response, telling me they have been hearing this frequently, and then launching into a spiel ending in an offer for a year at $19.95 per month. After that, I would be eligible for their special lowest rate (whatever that may be), for a year for each suite (3, 5 and 6 in my case) I purchased. I asked if I could pay for the 12 months now, but the answer was no, it had to be monthly. He did say they yearly purchase was a common question, and they may allow it later.
You have to download each of the programs you want to use. We had a series of storms, so while I have them downloaded, I don’t know if they open automatically when you click your current icon, or if you have to activate each program separately.