Anthony Davis
Blizzard Entertainment
You could, there were no restrictions on leaving an area during combat.
You can't leave a map during combat at all. Or at least in the backer beta you can't. It's particularly odd since the stamina system offers the perfect solution - restore the enemies' stamina when you return to the area you fled during combat.
Ooooh yeah. You're right. Party members didn't go down in IE games... they died.
Right. I remember now.
Anyway, fleeing completely from a battle wasn't something that I did much in PoE.