Its really not that bad. New biomes are always tough to break into. Remember you can use the dvergers to your advantage as they are neutral and you can map mark bases and always kite enemies if you find you are out of your depth. Once you have the feel for the enemies its no harder than the others. The magic is fun and worth the effort, dungeons are the best so far and of course the Queen. No real need to establish a base here, only need a small edge farm for the puffs. Good luck, I don't think the game is going to get any easier in the new biomes.