Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

So the answer to "this 'difficulty curve' is a cliff" is to either not advance the game, or not play?

To those of you saying I should have gone outside, I did. I went out to fight, and was inundated by an entire army of Greydwarves, Greydwarf Brutes, Greydwarf Shamans, and Greylings. They poisoned me, threw rocks, and beat me to death before I made it off the porch... and then there was nothing to do but let them destroy my entire house, because the brutes one-shotted me every time I stood up from my bed.

How am I supposed to deal with that kind of offensive, with a leather shirt and my shiny new pick (which appears to be useless until I kill some fire demon things so I can build a smelter)?

I should have built a better base/defenses? Dig a moat? Seriously?

I just got back from getting my ass handed to me by some eldritch horror that looked vaguely like a deer that some Pokemon threw up on... when should I have dug a moat? How should I have dug a moat? With the hoe? That thing doesn't even flatten terrain right, never mind actually dig. When do I unlock the shovel?

That's correct. Contrary to common sense, the game "rewards" you for defeating bosses by periodically swarming you with mobs during peacetime. Accomplishing difficult things (finding/defeating bosses) necessarily makes the game more difficult (having those bosses' mobs find/defeat you). It makes little sense from anyone's perspective but the developers', because it "gives the player something to do," "keeps the player on their toes," "makes the player die more frequently," etc.