Is the game really that much harder?

level 48 and died 1 time...i died more than this in previous leagues.

Essentially act 1 surprised some people, the rest of the acts are pretty much the same.

It's when you get to the last acts / maps where it becomes more apparent. The ailment changes make it much harder, such as hitting your flask to get rid of bleeds, only to immediately get hit with bleeds again (or ignite, poison ect).

It's not THAT much harder so far imo, however that said the first couple of maps have hit me harder with capped res and okay hp then any other league so far. Who knows.

Personally I only felt a light love tap as I always liked to mildly optimise my character during Acts instead of pure speed-running. Crafting with low-tier Essences, y'know, things like that. I was incredibly surprised to see so many people call Acts a "slog" and throwing out numbers like a 4 hour Act 1. I wonder if they never bothered to optimise their characters whatsoever during Acts?

You're level 48. You haven't seen anything yet. When you realize your immunities are gone and you're getting chain frozen or bled you will realize what everyone is complaining about.

Flasks were not great for the game but the flasks were hiding an even larger problem with the game design. Those problems needed to be fixed with the flask change, not after it. Expect 3.15 to be dismal in performance terms.

I don't think the game is harder. I think the word is "unfair". They triple-buffed mobs and triple-nerfed players.
It would be fine... if they had made any changesin gameplay. There are lots of situations that you just feel that you can do nothing but watching your character die (ailments and oneshots). I've tried. I've really tried to understand the changes and adapt but I just can't play a game that wants me to die to make some people think the game is harder because you die.
That's not my concept of "fun" but I understand that others may enjoy the current state of the game.

You need ailment immunity or you are in trouble. One second shock immunity does absolutely nothing to help your survival if the next hit will just reshock you and then death. Same with corrupted blood and curses really, I don't really understand the one second of immunity change. That does nothing to help you, it seems pointless.The flasks that auto use also take away your grace period, that needs to be addressed. Took a long time in this game to get grace periods working correctly, for these new flask mechanics to come around and muck it all up.

It isn't about difficulty, this is what a lot of people don't understand. People aren't dropping off because the game is difficult, it's because it doesn't feel good. Not the same thing.