In my opinion, it was worse on Maple Island. You didnt even have a chance to get away. I went through a portal and boom. Died. Instantly. Which meant I had to walk back from Southperry or whatever, back to the starting maps, while avoiding more cake mobs and red snails and anything else that could kill a level 1 character. Eventually I got good at getting hit by a snail so I could use the invince frames to walk through a cake mob. But newer players aren't so experienced with that. In other maps, you have more space. You have the ability to just go to the FM if you need to 'run' quickly. You can town scroll, etc. Can't do that in Maple Island.
