The recent episodes revolve around the theme of going back into it being just a game for fun and not a life or death situation anymore.
Ever watch Log Horizon? They aren't in any real danger either, because people respawn still, but that doesn't really take away from the story.
But yeah, it's kinda meh, up until the end of the last episode where they set up for what I expect to be an exciting, large PvP battle. It probably would have helped if they had more defined parameters as far as moves, abilities, etc. They just leave most of that vague, and support spells and crap just kinda pop out of thin air when the story remembers that it's an rpg mmo and it would have that kinda shit in it. Which reminds me, I have a similar gripe in that regards to Harry Potter universe. It's hard to make a person seem clever or amazing when you have no idea what kind of constraints and limitations they're actually dealing with