[2021] Character progression is tied to map and not the character itself, seriously?

Yes. This is actually pretty common in games of this nature. You don't take characters across different save games, they are tied to the save.

Originally posted by Shedding my mortal skin:

Originally posted by Mr Fantastic:
Not really, what is common is to have a character that is independent from the world it joins. So it gives you freedom to play different worlds with the same character.

Prime example and one of the best executions: terraria

I always thought of Terraria as the exception, not the standard. Besides, Terraria is an action RPG, not a survival game. Minecraft is closer to 7 Days to Die than Terraria, and it locks progress to each world.

Yes, Terraria is an exception to the rule. So is Valheim. In the latter, it can cause quite a number of issues even.

Originally posted by Mr Fantastic: If you're playing multiplayer and the host is not online or quits the game, tough luck to everyone else, all progress lost, this is bad game design at it's worst.

That'd be why Dedicated Servers exist. :) And why pretty much all games with this feature have them.