Amerith
That is currently how it works, unfortunately, and Winch Gate hasn't said anything about changing it.Now what I'd be interested to know is if I start with a F2P account, and feel like paying for the account for a couple of months, then take a break/casual play etc, [...] will I always have to renew the sub in order to login?
Of course, you can create a new F2P account to play on during times when your main account is unsubscribed, but...this generally isn't a very helpful suggestion.