[New Player] A bit unfriendly to Casual players?

So I'm not exactly new, I'm someone who played Tarkov just before it got really big and stayed up until the release of Arena, but coming back after all this time, this isn't exactly what I was hoping for.

A lot of people seem to pride themselves on how hardcore the game is and to their credit, it is. But that also attracts a certain playerbase that is much smaller if a lot more dedicated. Now I don't have the exact reason for why the game has gotten so much more condensed with its playerbase. It could be the changes to flea, inertia, found in raid requirements, but the overall issue is that the game requires a lot of time to actually do anything.

We're barely into this wipe but people have gotten this game down to such a science that if you're not a dedicated player you feel like you're left in the dust. Besides them just being better than you, they also almost always have much better gear because the best shit is now only available if you have done all your quests and levelled up your traders.

I used to feel a lot more ballsy when I played this game, I wasn't some idiot rushing into every fight but I knew that if I saw someone, I had a chance of taking them down. Now it feels like I always die before I even spot them, or I get headshotted before I've even gotten a second shot into the guy.

I would suggest that skill based matchmaking could fix this but I'm not even sure if that would do anything as most of the low levels I encounter are just people levelling new accounts (I'm assuming).

This has just made it so that I avoid combat at all costs because even if I can land a shot or two, I'm not confident that it'll even kill them. This has gone from a game where I enjoyed combat as much as looting, but now I never feel like entering with any good gear because it goes the same way everytime, plus I can't replace it like dedicated players do.

I wish I knew a fix but I also just want to hear what others think that goes beyond 'git gud lmao'. With each update it feels like the game is just asking for more of my time and I can't really keep up. This more hardcore enviroment might be more fun for some people, but as someone who only plays with friends, I feel like a lot of the fun has been sucked out of Tarkov.