wait what? you lose XP in Aion when you die? i didnt know that when i first got into it ( when it first came out) no wonder it felt like an eternity to level

Not to mention dying because some nub healer doesn't know how to heal anyone but the tank, or some new tank who doesn't know how to hold threat. Or DCs.

If death did have such a penalty, such as losing XP in WoW, raids would be severely hampered, too. You wouldn't keep on trying a new boss over and over again until you got it right. The cost would be just way too high. And gearing up for instances just would not be fun or rewarding.

Fifteen years ago, I played a text based MUD (called Dragonheart) and while it was as addictive as WoW, the penalty for dying was steep. Each death would mean you would lose a level, and dying could be quite emotionally devastating as you saw days of work go up in smoke.

I think the consequences for death are okay right now. At worst, you have to spend a few more gold and wait 10 minutes before playing again.

I agree.

In trying to understand the author's perspective, I did have to ask myself, "If the only consequence for dying is a corpse run, some more inconvenient than others, then what is the point of it?"

I think it's a fair question that doesn't suggest anything along the author's lines.

In this light I have an idea of something like spirit beasts that you have to evade or beat up on occasion and loot to get your shit back. You never lose it but the longer it takes you, the more you're not going to want to die again. Or maybe changing the death mechanic altogether and making it more a fight for consciousness that you become enthralled in prior to the inconvenient corpse run. Something to make the player be slightly more strategic (less careless) instead of inconsequential pwnmobbing.

Don't apply it to dungeons though.

@Zalvi yea you lose i think 2% permanent XP of whatever that level takes , say it takes 10million xp to level each death , you loose 200k xp forveer , plus , ofcourse the XP you have to buy back at a soul healer... this prolly was the most suckiest thing about aion for me... I was a tank in aion and every time you die cuz you try your best to keep aggro on all mobs... you lost so much xp it wasnt worth it for me nemore.