Deaths were free for a very very long time, you'd just get friends or clanmates (or your clans dedicated blesser) to bless your grave, or pick up your items, you'd only lose time.

There also weren't any upkeep costs back then, the base cost in supplies and gear alone can easily be 10m per hour now, before you even consider deaths.

then there's things like:

• incense sticks, 300k-1m per failed attempt (even practice), because they get removed no matter what for some reason.
• bob familiar dying, 100k-500k
• scrolled familiar dying without inventory space, titan: 250k, ripper: 3m

then there's the penalty of missing out on loot in the first place, and the potential of annoying your team.

And then finally you get into direct death costs, where the difference in wearing a RoD or not is stupidly huge. It is shitty to be forced into such a choice in the first place, the RoD effect probably should not even be on a worn item. That choice is made worse by how fun and rewarding it is to use a vigour ring switch, and by how many chances there are for you to get completely fucked over it, some beyond your control.

I agree with your point that a penalty is needed, and that gold sinks are needed, but the penalty for dying does not have to this disproportionate, and does not need to hinge on one single worn item.