Okay. First of all, Grimm. It was Tanaka's stupidity that brought this game crashing down. He's not the answer. Now I'm going to throw up a quote from Boricua to illustrate a point.

In the same sense that fights got easier in XI when exp loss in certain instances was removed. At that point you could try just about anything without real thought or strategy to win and it wouldn't matter how many times it didn't work, as long as one attempt did.
And now; one from DarthTaru to ease Xzen.

You can say that the death penalty did not make NM's more difficult and in some ways that might be correct. When I had Tiamat claimed, I was not necessarily concerned with XP loss and more concerned with looking like a motard in front of a rival linkshell and/or losing claim to another. However, the skills that brought me to Tiamat to begin with were learned much earlier, and learned because there was something on the line.
Now. What we have here are two examples as to what it's like with the death penalty, and what it's like without. I'm going to go ahead and tell you, Xzen, the most perfect example. Besieged. That is the one instance I can recall that first started the no death penalty in an instanced area.

If you remember with me, you'll recall that just like what Boricua and DeathTaru are saying, there is no skill, difficulty, or challenge from Besieged. At least not to me. I was from the Siren server and I don't know if they are anymore, but when I left we had never lost a Besieged. The only thing I can say about Besieged is that when you were KO'd and got back up, what did you do? I seen so many people jump back up and continue to fight knowing they'd die again soon, but at least they'd still get experience. A no death penalty will implore people to not care as long as the enemy is taken down. They could get up and die twenty more times as long as it receives the desired effect from doing so. In your own words I suppose, Xzen, newbs will continue to stay newbs and turn into noobs for not recognizing their own mistakes from earlier. I was a Galka and leveled BLM by myself. I knew when first starting that I'd have to be on my toes and be the best. I ended up a great BLM for a Galka. Rather sad though that a nearly naked Tarutaru was doing more damage than me in Bibiki Bay.....And I had on a hell of a lot of MAB & INT gear.

All I'm saying is that no death penalty in terms of exp loss towards this game would cripple it in terms of strategy and challenges. Down the line you'll see people that die in XP groups and stay dead until they get the EXP from the mob, Return, and then run back to fight the other enemy the group is facing with no thought of consequences. Oh. By the way OJTheLionKing.....I played Diablo II a long time ago. In terms of devoloping skills? There was no such thing when playing the AI in Hardcore. It always ended up being a Paladin using his Holy Hammers to obliterate anything. Now in terms of PvP your statement is correct. Lot of people trying out different combinations. Diablo II in your example isn't evidence to your claim. You just half-assed it like most people do.