well the fact is i have been too busy in real life to worry about the game and its been probably 6 8 months since i have tried. Not sure if it is really a thing or not.
It's not just about keeping old accounts. You're upset that your
characters are gone, right?
Well, keeping a character means keeping around all its realm information, paraphernalia, fines/bans, contacts, etc. It also means that
even if you never come back, no one can ever make another character with the same name on that continent.