In solo Don't Starve all characters have a reliable way to be resurrected in meat effigy. In DST, however, more ways to resurrect have been added, most notably the telltale heart. A 25% health penalty for dying has also been added in order to balance out the mechanic, which can be removed by using a booster shot. This was probably done to allow players of all skill levels to play together: since fighting is overall tougher in DST, players can use this more relaxed approach to resurrection to learn to fight harder enemies without fear of resetting the world their friends are also playing in.
Resurrection works in the same way for all characters in DST. It is death, however, that has been substantially changed for just one character, WX-78. As you might know, the robot permanently loses up to 2/3 of their upgrades upon death. This is an extremely punishing penalty that is completely absent in solo Don't Starve and makes no sense in a game that is meant to have a more casual attitude towards dying.
Gears are a very rare resource, and even after clearing out the entire map it often won't be possible to fully upgrade (as you also need gears to build at least one fridge and ice-flingomatic). I think WX-78 mains should have a way to preserve their upgrades upon death.
In solo play, you could keep your world (and thus your gears) only by respawning at a touchstone or a meat effigy. My proposal is to have WX keep their upgrades when respawning through a meat effigy, while respawning with a lesser amount of upgrades when resurrected through other methods. This would encourage players to build meat effigies (which have little use in multiplayer right now) while still keeping WX-78 very weary of dying, especially when they don't have one up yet.