so i got to pay to be able to pay you for work?

It's all of $2 to be a low-tier Patreon. If you can't afford $2 a month, then you probably can't afford commissions anyway. Why be negative when this is, quite literally, her job?

...artists always assume that they're the ONLY ones asking for your money. What if you followed 50 people and they all wanted $2 a month?

Then pick and choose, it ain't hard. A lot of artists know that even $2 is pricey for some, so they know people will be here and there every month. The numbers fluctuate and that's okay. What matters to them the most is that you cared enough to even support them for one month. Not all artists are entitled, pretentious assholes.

Put simply, yes.

"A quick note, my Patreon is not a paywall." Bold words.
I've been a long-term fan of your art and was looking forward to commissioning you eventually, but for now I'll reconsider. $2 may not be much, but it's the principle and the practice that matters. If Steam required a subscription of $2 per month to be able to view its store page I'd say not even half of its current users would agree to that.

Ah yeah, I should probably reword that. I am sorry for that confusion. I do appreciate you leaving me a comment here though about it.

$2 may not be much, but I know it is a lot for some people for only a chance. I very much understand that, but I need to keep commission inquiries low as I get overwhelmed with them quickly, and I'd like to avoid getting burnt out on taking any at all. (I am very bad with wording so please forgive me if it's not making sense.)

Patreon won't be around forever and I'm sure I will eventually return to taking public ones in the future.

With the steam thing, I highly HIGHLY disagree that they couldn't make $2 off of 90% of their fanbase. However, in that concern, it would be a shit move because Steam also gets royalties off the games they sale, so they don't need that extra $2 a month. So that's a bad basis to stand on.
Sats, however, the only thing with her Patreon that's a "paywall" is her commission forms. Everything else gets uploaded here a month later, if that. So before you start throwing around 'principle and practice' crap, reconsider that this is a way for her to stay organized, keep a work flow going, and tbh, stay sane so she doesn't have to deal with bratty people commissioning her.
I really hate this negativity with artists all trying to make a way for themselves be it here or Patreon or elsewhere. They gotta make money too, just like anyone else's 9-5. Even if she was taking public commissions, people would complain she's too pricey or too slow or something else 'cause people are entitled, like you are showing of yourself here. She didn't even have to mention her commission forms were open here, but she did. It's up to you to either sub for a month for $2, send in a form and then unsub if you're so unhappy, or just ignore it OR make an ass out of yourself and try to guilt trip her. Seems like you chose C. Kudos.
Thankfully, she seems to understand you can't make everyone happy so she goes the route that's the best for her and her business. Don't like it? Too bad.