Similar to a certain streaming video service, it would be nice to "suspend" or "put on hold" your account (to put it "on vacation" so your time is put in stasis, you can't log on, etc.). For example, for those who do not appreciate how the Hunt system was introduced (there are a number of obvious, fatal flaws that make it fun only to a devoted few), it would be nice to put your account in limbo for a little bit while waiting and seeing if it will be fixed.
The benefit for players:
You already paid for time, and that won't change, but if you feel a patch or design decision has ruined your enjoyment of the game, you could put your account on hold instead of simply not logging in anymore, so that time is saved for the future, when you might have more interest in the game.
The benefit for SE:
Players who are frustrated with the game are MUCH more likely to come check it out again if they have game time still on hold, and don't have to put in more money to double check that the game is interesting/good now or not.
When a new system or patch is introduced, SE would have immediate feedback on how well it was received by how many people decide to suspend their accounts (is it outside the normal range? did a LOT of people put their accounts on hold?). Right now you can only extrapolate from feedback on the forums (may or may not be a good barometer in many cases) and how many folks let their accounts lapse, which could be FAR into the future considering many people purchase lots of time at once to either get rewards or to pay less money per month.
I for one probably would have hit suspend in response to the Hunt and the other extreme grind aspects of the game introduced in 2.2 and 2.3. I feel like the dev team doesn't respect the player's time. There's not enough time for the average person to complete really any one thing, for a single job, much less do all the things or even most of them.
Thank you for reading.![]()