Having spent altogether way too much time playing this game (so addictive), I disagree. I've played about a dozen sessions with several rounds each, so I've had the chance to play full rounds as well as entering part way through rounds, and I've certainly experienced my share of building up power and dying. I think the game would be no fun if you didn't lose stuff when dying. It wouldn't take long for everyone to build up max powerups, and then it would just be a bombs everywhere shitshow with very little going in the way of tactics or overall strategy. In addition, losing power ups is a huge incentive to avoid dying. In fact, it's the only reason I care.
I agree, however, that it can be really frustrating to spend a precious several minutes farming or searching for power ups only to lose it all in a freak accident, an unlucky wall spawn, or even just getting outplayed by someone. I think somewhere in between would be the best of both worlds -- maybe losing about a third to a half of your power ups would be a good balance. Then you don't lose all the fruits of your efforts in an instance but the incentive to not die is still strong. Yet dying will still happen frequently enough that the overall level of power ups that people have will be low enough to keep game play fun and reasonable.
I agree, however, that it can be really frustrating to spend a precious several minutes farming or searching for power ups only to lose it all in a freak accident, an unlucky wall spawn, or even just getting outplayed by someone. I think somewhere in between would be the best of both worlds -- maybe losing about a third to a half of your power ups would be a good balance. Then you don't lose all the fruits of your efforts in an instance but the incentive to not die is still strong. Yet dying will still happen frequently enough that the overall level of power ups that people have will be low enough to keep game play fun and reasonable.