I enjoy the game quiet a lot as well, I'm not going disagree, I know it is supposed to be hard, but I don't like being stuck because RNGeasus has abandoned my run, and I REAL don't like lose all progress on a character, only watch them get kidnaped. what I will say is the difficulty curve needs work.
to be more specific I think novice level is fine and adept needs to nerfed again I can't comment on anything higher then that, because I have never been able to hold on to character long enough to get past adept.