@lotrmith I think you grossly underestimate the value of progression. It is literally the whole game. Id give all of my gold from voyages to not lose my progress. I wouldn't bat an eye.
So its not risking losing $1.00. Its risking losing $1,000 in the current system.
People are focusing too much on PvE, PvP, or PvPvE. The mechanic of experience loss is what needs to be discussed. No matter what clever analogy or counter argument / discussion point you come up with, it will never change the fact that losing everything in a game where the grind is extremely steep in the first place NEVER feels good. It leads to people quitting the game.
Trust me, I'm one of them. There are others in this thread that have done the same. We are the vast minority here on the forums, yet you see multiple people here and in the old thread leaving the game around these kind of issues. Its not good, not good at all.
PvP Rewards : This shouldn't have anything to do with loss of progression. They need to make a PvP faction and implement rewards accordingly. Lets be honest here. If you are PvPing for progression, you might as well uninstall the game. You will never reach legend.
"X"beard : This is one of my biggest issues. I dc'ed 4 times in the span of about 6 hours played. Each time I would go do 2 quests, go to turn in, and crash. 2 of the 4 I disconnected without turning in anything. The 3rd time I got a quest done, went and turned in (highly inefficient) , went out and did another quest. Dced right when I was about to complete the last chapter. The 4th was during a fort.
6 hours of play time, nothing to show for it.
A change like this is NEEDED for the overall health of the game. Its beyond contestation.