@Loop_Stratos - then you need to be looking at your enchants on equipment and how you are approaching levels and trading out equipment.
I mean I cleared data and just went through it again to about level 35 and got bored. Didn't come particularly close to death at any point and I had very poor drops in the first 10 levels.
For equipment, just because something has more defense/attack doesn't automatically mean it should be used immediately. If you're already taking 0 physical damage from enemies, then it doesn't make sense to swap a shield with +3 health regen +2 mana regen for a shield with +5 defense. The defense doesn't actually help you, while the health and mana regen will always be useful.
Don't be afraid to swap equipment for different enemies. If you get a Goblin Shield (has 7 defense with 5 earth defense) then don't be afraid to swap Goblin Shield back and forth with a pure +10 defense shield for different enemies.
Remember, the goal is to get to full sustain.
Early on, the same factor about being smart about not just blindly attacking every enemy still applies. You have zero sustain or equipment at the start. So logically, in the early levels, you should scout the level, kill the easy enemies that do no damage to you FIRST, collect the XP and equipment you can reach, then go back and kill enemies that hurt (which now presumably hurt you less). i.e. on the first level rats do very little damage but bats do decent damage. Logically, kill only the rats, open all the chests you can reach, hit level 2 and get +defense, then go back and kill bats.
This applies for the rest of the game. Take a minute and scout the level and plan out a path you're going to take to clear everything.
Not sure how you died on level 8 to goblins unless you wasted skill points. You should get heal and go STRAIGHT for the +5 defense, which you can get at player level 6 and the 2nd +5 defense at player level 9. After the first +5 goblins should be doing very little or zero damage to you (depending on equipment).
Every 10 levels you can fill out equipment and have a guaranteed crafting station. Enchant any equipment you buy. It is VERY rare that you will get an unenchanted piece of equipment that is better than a 2 slot enchanted one. You should be buying the Mage Helm at level 10, it comes with +1 mana already equipped.
By level 22 you should have had about +12 to +21 health and +1-4 mana per fight (depending on your luck with craft drops) and toads should actually be LESS dangerous than the flowers since you should have +5 earth defense from Jungle Sandals, easily 100 defense from the shop on 20, and +12-21 health regen per fight (depending on your luck with Viscous Goop drops). So toads should be doing only about 5-10 damage per hit (or less if you put some earth defense in an empty slot) and you should be getting that back with your health sustain.
Also, potion drops are really secondary. White Morels are better, you get a lot more of them and they craft a potion for +40 health. You should not be drinking an actual healing potion unless the next enemy will actually kill you. NEVER use ingredients like Viscous Goop
Also you dive deeper, if you are coming against a lot of guys with the same type of attack, logically you should be getting some defenses against it. So fire defense at level 10 (when there is no way you have the materials to fill all your slots with regen yet) some poison/earth in the teens/20s, ice as you get to the ice caves, I forget exactly. The priority should be health/mana, but by the 20s everything on every piece of equipment should be enchanted. If you don't have health/mana regen items to put on it, then fill the slot with appropriate resistance or flat defense.
