I understand the need for skill loss in a game like this, it REALLY makes you want to not die. If all I had to do was go grab my stuff, I wouldn't be half as careful as I am. That being said, the amount that skills drain seems a bit too much, only because they can potentially deplete to the point of nothingness. Enter: this crazy idea!
What if every 10 levels we hit checkpoints in our XP and couldn't drop below that point? Say you have a skill to level 65, you die a few times but it stops decreasing at 60. Then if you get it to 70 it won't drop past that point anymore. Cap this perk at lvl 90 (so you can't stay indefinitely maxed without surviving), and get rid of "no skill loss" or reduce it's time (for balancing). I think this would remedy a lot of the negative feedback on dying, but still be challenging to get our skills up there (specially during higher levels).
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/zuwaxy/a_balanced_proposal_to_skill_loss/
