Why are the difficulty spikes so stupidly insane?

I’m relegated to playing solo, as all my friends bailed super early, and I’m always afraid I’ll just be a weak link in a pub.

The AI is good for one thing, and one thing only, reviving. They get some good shots off once in a while, but they take zero agro from me, and do stupid things like focusing on the shielded zoanthrope.

Going up a difficulty level is going from a slight challenge to fighting hoards of titanium-covered bullet sponges. My weapons don’t do crap, and of course the entirety of every swarm focuses solely on me. It’s a rarity for me to even complete a substantial run, much less ruthless or lethal. Meanwhile, average is pretty much a cakewalk. It’s maddening.

Go ahead and get the “get gud” stuff out of your systems. But going up one difficulty level makes me truly hate this game.