Yeah, that idea was given a few times. That’s why I felt like it would encourage actual groups of heroes to go out into the realms, instead of solo players. People would most likely organise with proper team roles, and you would most likely see groups with healers, tanks and damage dealers evenly distributed and fighting as a team.
Why would they do that? Fame, of course! And I’m not talking about the currency, but about making yourself a name out there. With the fear of permadeath, clearing difficult dungeons or getting your hand on a rare piece of equipment would be a great way to become one of the legendary heroes that people look up to. Also, if there was actual hunger and such, heroes would need to hunt for it, even if it means going in lowlands to hunt for easy meals.
In that same idea, that would also mean a real evolution of the player’s powers and dungeons. Even the easy dungeons like pirate caves and such would be visited by players that haven’t got enough experience and guts to try out more dangerous places, and in the end most if not all places in the realms would be visited.
The first question would be : would pets be a thing? I feel like pets were never meant to be a part of the game in its main idea, the idea being : when your character dies, it disappears and only your other heroes remain. Vault was always a way to connect your different heroes, so I don’t know if it should exist in a place where you only have one character at a time. If Vaults existed simply as a place to stock the items you can’t carry, then I guess that upon death this vault would simply disappear, since everything linked to the character must vanish.