I believe I finished EA (before going back and finishing other encounters) at level 3. Yeah, it's hard. My setup is CHARNAME -- Wizard, plus the wizard, rogue, and cleric. Perhaps not the best balance, but it's how I want the story to roll.
#1 know your spells. Makes or breaks being able to either make or take a hit. Mage armor, for instance, allowed me to prevent taking a single hit during a late-game encounter. I also buffed up equipment, but combined with bane/bless could actually hit the friggin things.
#2 location, location, location. Those cliffs made creatures smack my fellows to their deaths. I then used this tactic to throw enemies off the cliff. Great stuff. It also made a difference when I figured out the earth diggers in the underdark. I was not sure how I'd pass the level until I jumped to a new place and avoided it entirely. Which leads me to...
#3 you don't always have to fight. Or at least not everything at once. A big strategy is learning where you can keep your fights behind closed doors. OMG if I had a dollar for every creature I've P'O'd my character wouldn't be doing these quests....
#4 know your action, bonus action, etc. I use potions, scrolls, spells, sneak attack, etc. Everything is planned, so I can't just blaze my way in like on an easier difficulty. My rogue uses melee or ranged depending on proximity, cleric buffs the party, mage 1 uses crowd control, mage 2 uses one target spells. Oh and those %$@! dice have a factor, but, hey, that's D&D. (but really, guys, where's my dice jail???)
And remember it is EA. I think that the encounters are great for a medium to advanced player, but it needs an easier difficulty, a story mode, or something. I agree that it is really tough until you hit level 3, but even then I've had my fair share of spamming the reload button. So for more casual gamers who like the RPG aspect...? It needs to have some options. My mom should not start this game up until there's a scale. Or I'll be fighting her battles XD
Edit: Forgot to mention, I took the underdark route. Holy hells it was not what I expected... Hopefully the alternative isn't so brutal.
