Go to the second to last paragraph to skip my literal only gripe with this otherwise phenomenal game.
I personally find 5% exp loss on death just incredibly aggravating, i dont really carea bout reaching level 100s in the skills to be godmode or whatever, but the skills are meant to be a progression, and considering how each new level of a skill requires more commitment than the previous to raise losing 5% *and* all exp to the next level irritates me when you consider the following deaths that can happen:
Fall damage while BuildingFall damage while digging out a copper veinFall damage in f*cking generalStupid bugs / game freezingPracticing parrys / blows against new enemiesGetting raided by high tier enemies right as your food fell offExploring a biome you're safe in, only to come across a monster that got aggroed from another biome that is clearly way above your leveletc
There are just so many stupid, pointless ways to die that punish you with the most expensive form of death tax that it basically requires a level of hyper vigilance of every moment when you play the game that seriously detracts from just enjoying the game.
So what is my solution to this so I can enjoy the game without sweating my balls off every second to make sure I don't die to something dumb? Dev commands, I just give a rough estimation of where my skills were at when I died and call it a day. Ef it, the exp loss is infuriating, if the reason for the exp tax is because level 100 skills are broken OP then just nerf the skills, skills are meant to be progressed, not stuck at the 40-50 level indefinitely (unless again, you play in a hyper alert and/or grind lower mobs for hours).
Another alternative solution is to create checkpoints, you can set them 10 levels apart, 20 or 25. Everytime you reach a checkpoint for a skill your skill cannot go below that level regardless of deaths.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/rlb378/tired_of_losing_exp_to_stupid_deaths_i_have_the/