I agree that obstacles and challenges are good for the game. If permanent con-loss wasn't a thing, dying (especially to mobs) would lose pretty much all meaning, and the challenge of trying to stay alive would be meaningless and boring. So that's where I'm coming from. Challenges are good. Obstacles and disincentives to risky behavior are very much necessary.

But the age-loss of wither doesn't actually do that, because its so rare to actually land, and even rarer for that to truly impact a character (since age-deaths are so very rare). It's a non-obstacle, because no one is concerned that it will land. Nor should they be, because the chances of it actually mattering are so close to zero it isn't worth it. Just do the math.. how many times is the wither commune used, and how often does someone age-die prematurely because of it? It isn't even worth considering.

So if it doesn't provide that feeling of "risk" and make the game more fun by introducing a different challenge, what DOES it provide to the game?

All it really does is make it possible that a long-lived and established character will disappear somewhat earlier than normal. Typically, I think we all WANT these long-lived and established characters around. We celebrate characters like Gilversplitz that lived for years, don't we? Wouldn't we have done the same for a well-respected character like Andaluvion? So I don't see how that character disappearing earlier (even if it isn't as dramatic difference as we think) can be seen as a positive.

In short.. the only actual result of the current aging aspect of wither is a negative for the game and for the players. So why keep it as-is?