They could even have an optional Milestone XP mode where they just level you up at certain points in the story... does away with the mentality of needing to grind xp and instead just get through the game how you like.
But even without milestone, still big agree. Losing out is already a penalty for not murder-hoboing everything, dont gimp XP too. For D&D you want to reward more interesting behaviour instead of just encouraging everyone to murder hobo everything... makes for better stories. Not saying people can't just go murder hobo if they want, but it shouldn't be the 'best' way to play and reach highest level and best gear.
I was wondering about milestone xp too. The problem I came up with though with that format is the 'open play' style of the map and exploration. As a DM, in PnP I have control as to where the players go and what they encounter. So I am able to make sure there are no TPKs. In a sandbox style of free exploration we are able to go anywhere and encounter things that are too difficult for us to deal with at our current level.
So I feel that we are kinda stuck with the XP earned system.
