The Death Penalty Argument Does Not Hold Up

In a recent interview, Jonathan was asked whether GGG has considered removing or softening endgame death penalties, since dying currently results in XP loss and losing access to all remaining map content/inserting tablets. His response was (same as months ago) that the system exists to prevent players from intentionally failing maps to abuse map buffs or rewards.

This explanation does not align with the current game design.

Players can no longer stack map buffs or rewards. That option was removed during the tower rework.

Maps now have virtually no meaningful buffs to exploit, aside from rare cases like Overrun by Abyssal or Empowered bosses.

Tablet abuse is not relevant here, since a tablet charge is consumed regardless.

Map content is randomly generated. Leaving or failing a map does not allow selective farming or deterministic abuse.

Given these constraints, the justification that harsh death penalties are needed to prevent exploitation does not appear valid under the current system.

This issue deserves to be addressed again with a clearer and more accurate explanation. As it stands, the rationale given is confusing and inconsistent with existing mechanics.