I am somewhat new to the game and have been loving it but can you guys help me understand the ridiculous power imbalance early/mid game?

Rant warning but Ill put a TLDR at the bottom.

I am not sure how far I am into the game as I don't want to spoil anything for myself, but for reference I have some bronze things and started to explore the swamp and the swamp dungeon. I have been having a blast but holy shit can we talk about how stupid OP wolves and plains biome enemies are?

Of course early game trolls were annoying as hell but it was easy to run away or just slowly snipe them. Although wolves are only in hills which you rarely come across, they attack crazy fast, run crazy fast, and if you can't one-shot them with your bow you are practically doomed.

But plains, oh boy.. my friend and I (been playing it coop) stumbled across one and were like "oh that's cool, I guess its just a biome that's like the mini plain areas in the woods." We step foot off our boat, my friend walks literally A FOOT, and gets immediately one shot by a bug neither of us could see. So I am like, shit, guess I'll stay over here and start sailing back. Well ignoring my choke by getting the boat stuck I see a goblin coming to me. So I think to test his attack with my shield, expecting him to do no more damage than one of those undead Vikings. No they do 100, I get wrecked. Fast forward a bit after I get some tools lying around and we sail back with a raft, we go back and my friend is able to get his stuff. The goblin destroyed our main boat, I try and get my stuff but again got wrecked with literally no chance. 3rd times a charm I sail back with the raft by myself and try and go stealthy. Coast is clear, about to get my stuff and dip but hey would you look at that there is now practically a flying wolf that one shots you.

I love this game with all my heart but how tf can that mosquito thing be justified? I am fine with everything in the swamp which is said to be the hardest area of the game, slimes are annoying but can be countered. All the mosquito does is guarantee a shit time unless you have a portal right there or have end-game gear. In the end I just went into debug mode cause I can't be bothered. Had an incident like this before and don't want to repeat it.

TL;DR Why, of all things, does a plains biome have enemies that can fly, move faster than you, and one shot you? How should I be expected to be able to counter that? Is there some sort of progression I am missing, am I required to get the top gear I can get at anytime?