Uh...what? Try fleeing a mob of enemies when you're low on health and stamina. Odds are, you're gonna die.
Now, try it again with Eikthyr's power activated. It decreases the stamina cost of running and jumping. Given that, you're most likely gonna escape and live to fight another day.
Elder's power is very useful when you've got a tree farm going and want to chop them all down quickly.
Bonemass' power provides resistance to blunt, slash, and pierce damage. 50-75% depending on your armor. Who doesn't want to take less damage while you're carving up a Fuling village?
Moder's power gives you a tailwind while sailing. I don't even need to explain how useful that can be.
Yagluth's power provides resistance to fire, frost and lightning. Since Yagluth is the last boss, there's not much use for it now until the Mistlands and new bosses are added. That is, unless, you take your character to another world to help a friend.
As for the difficulty jump in events, it's not THAT difficult if you have a decently defended base, upgraded gear for your tier, and proper food items to keep your hp/stam high.
It sounds to me like you aren't upgrading your gear as you climb tiers and don't have the best foods for your game stage.
The wiki has quite a bit of info to help you cook the best foods for each game stage (Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, etc.) so that you aren't getting one or two shotted by event enemies.