Originally posted by Ubizon:

You're a Viking, dying should be VERY annoying!

What are you on about? There would be little, if anything, greater than dying in battle;
Risky game-play should be rewarded.

Regardless, the skill loss is excessive; You're already punished by the full loot system, doubly so if you died in a high-risk area and on top of that geographic issues if You're far from home without a portal, plus some other annoyances...

If they insist on skill loss, it should just be something like the gains of the current level or something like that, or perhaps a static 1 level down.

Current system punishes risky game-play too severely, especially considering the theme of the game. As it stands you'll either have to play carefully, or end up plateauing because a single death can erase many hours of skill progression.