Keep dying and cannot seem to progress very far

The game just feels like I can;t get any traction. Just die and respawn

Do you really die at level 3 and don't progress in acts?
Seems like trolling, sorry.

not necessarily trolling..

after the changes, the beginning is almost as hard as it used to be in early versions of the game

I made the story deathless in the end, but almost got killed by Hillock and these charging rhoas gave me some trouble too. I had to work much harder on my char (always play the story in new league SSF with first char) and really enjoyed it after those years of ez braindead leveling :)

The Rhoa stuns are not be taken lightly for sure.

Don't start with melee skills. Your starter health potions aren't good enough to keep you alive, so kiting or minion tanking is the best way to easily get through the early acts.