It’s definitely this. Even at nearly max gearscore, I can die pretty easily in Brimstone if I’m not careful (probably in part because of being in light armor, too).
Personally, I love the fact that overworld mobs can actually kill me. It’s far more interesting than just plowing through hordes of baddies like some superpowered hulk.
If you aren’t good at I-framing then perhaps grab some medium or heavy armor to have better mitigation.
Mostly though just search the market for a GS (since you already playing bow/gs) that has “trenchant recovery” perk on it and enjoy healing back most of the damage you take. It really does make PVE so much easier it’s ridiculous.
I had picked up some bad habits prior to BS where I would carelessly run into a zone and pull whatever mobs I could into groups. I needed to step back, go slower, and actually plan through BS zones. It was a nice change of pace and made it more enjoyable.
Oh yes, I totally forgot about trophies. 3 major combat trophies make a HUGE difference in whatever activity you are engaged in. At a very bare bones minimum get the minor and go from there. Make sure your first house is the 20k one. You get a 50% discount on the first house. You will eventually upgrade so why not save 10k at the start? The other two can be the smallest just to have the ability to post 3 trophies.
Do yourself a favor and switch to more con and replace light armor to either medium or heavy so you can tank more hits. Low con light is fine IF you know exactly what to do.
If I were you I would go with BoW/GS in medium, 150/200 con, pull with bow, finish mobs with GS. You want trenchant recovery on GS for sustain. Once you learn how to dodge/mob patterns, you ca go light or lower your CON
Don´t try to play the same light low CON builds Youtube shows you. These players know exactly what to do, how to avoid dmg etc. If you don´t know it (yet) you will struggle hard.
I did whole Brimstone as 150 CON heavy sns/hatchet and gosh it was so easier than with squishy light dps build. At lvl 60 I bought full heavy 590+ gear (ideally with ancient ward/corrupted ward) for like 3-4k coins and went Brimstone at around 540 GS.
The aggro range for archer mobs is just way too large. Most of the problems doing simple faction and other quests in BS happen when you’re fighting a couple of melee mobs and then 4 archers aggro and start doing heavy damage on you from 1/2 mile away.
If it weren’t for that, BS would be tough but not obnoxiously so.