Mistlands and Content Balancing might be harmed severely by Skill Loss

Hey fellow Vikings.

With all the discussion going on about nerfs and the difficulty of the latest content, i thought i would throw my view on things into here aswell:

I am convinced that the main issue of all the 'drama' is actually the Skill Loss penalty on death, despite it not really being mentioned by anyone. In my perception, losing skills in the end game is the most punishing and most frustrating aspect of dying by a mile. And i think this source of frustration is the main reason people complain about dying in new biomes, to content percieved as too lethal, a feedback Iron Gate then is taking as a reason to tune down the difficulty.

Especially at Level of 60+, Skills take a lot of time to level and each death being accompanied by the knowledge, that i know have to level them for a couple hours just to make up the deficit, is disheartening to say the least. This is doubly frustrating if your death is caused something you percieved as 'buggy' or wrong. Examples like fighting up or down slopes, making dagger lunge attacks at Lox's while hugging them and still somehow not being able to hit, etc.The most recent example i could think of in my own gametime, was when i accidentially jumped on top of a Deathsquito and that bug immediately started to carry me up into the sky. What usually would've been a really funny and entertaining moment to share with others, was entirely ruined by the fact that all i could think about was the imminent death by falling and the loss of my skills.

I think, if the Skill Loss penalty on Death was removed and replaced by something like all carried gear recieving ~20% durability damage, this would profit the game immensly in the long run. This would open Iron Gate up to make content tougher, without incuring that much wrath from casual players, giving people more time, opportunity and enthusiasm to try new content. I am more willing to try and see how many hits i can get in with my flint knife vs the troll before he hits me, if i don't ruin a bunch of skill work by risking getting hit.

The new AI on Seekers and Fuling just makes them look silly and i think the game would profit a lot, if it could test your mettle better, in an environment where failing isn't as incredibly punishing at it is right now.

TLDR: Iron Gate should revert nerfs, especially those to AI but remove the Skill Loss Penalty (maybe replaced with durability damage to gear so you can't just kill something by dying endlessly) because this would give them the freedom to let content be challenging, without causing immense frustration in players.