The issue for me is the lack of creating a sense of progression and achievement. If we consider that our Level 1 characters are something along the lines of apprentices, students or graduates, then they are being thrown in the deep end somewhat. It might be a trope but I really don't think there is anything wrong with cutting your teeth on some more basic creatures.
It worked immensely well in BG1 in my opinion; a wolf was a real threat at the outset but a couple of levels later and you could deal with them with little trouble...hence creating a tangible sense of your character's evolution. I get Larian has this fixation tie getting away from their concept of 'boring' but the flip side is that everything is exceptional and explosive...and so the experience of facing a dragon later in the game is diminished, because we have already seen them in the intro...and can apparently even kill the one in the Githyanki patrol.
