Licensing question

I can't comment on Altera's marketing choices, but if you order the kit and expect to use Quartus for other FPGAs, such as a Stratix, check first that the license with the kit is a full license and not one that can only target Arria's.

The license is only used for renewal. After one year you don't have to throw your kit away, you can still use the Quartus version that you installed. The only thing you won't be able to do any more is to upgrade Quartus to a version that came out after your license expired.

Edit: please note that this rule only applies to Quartus itself. For the licensed IPs, some of them require an updated license if you want to compile them in your design.