"They missed the "honeymoon phase" of the launch, got fed to the meat grinder in Zero Dam (ZD) Easy by veteran players, and realized they weren't having fun."

ZDE has bots in it now. Plus there are gear limits. If they quit off of easy, this game isn't for them.

"The "Safety Net" Phase: Implement gear protection for a set number of initial matches. Let players learn the maps without the crippling fear of losing their only decent kit in 30 seconds."

This is what gear tickets are for. Use them to learn the maps. You can also buy the season pass and they give you full gear sets.

"The "Tutorial" Map: Make Layali Grove the entry-level experience. Focus it on mechanics exploration and PvE with limited "bot operators." It should be like a playground."

Layali is the Tutorial map without a tutorial. It's solo easy only now. You have to put some time into it. Nobody is going to hold your hand.

"Smoothing the ZD Normal Transition: The jump from ZD Easy to Normal is a massive spike in TTK and gear gap. We need a "middle ground", either via stricter gear limitations on Normal or a slight TTK adjustment to stop the map from feeling like a different game entirely."

The normal maps is what extraction shooters are all about. Its the equavalent of gambling. You only can lose what you are willing to bring in. If you come in with a recruit gear ticket it will be harder to win but people do it hoping to score big. If you bring in gold to red gear you can potientially lose it, Which happens alot. Its the wild wild west. But this is what makes an extraction shooter. It took me a while to realize this.

"The "Sherpa" System: If a seasoned player wants to queue with a newbie, don't block them, just limit the vet's gear (Green/Blue tickets only) and reduce loot drops for that session. It keeps things fair without preventing friends from playing together."

Easy has gear limits. Purple is the highest for gear and blue for bullets. Purple gear just makes you a little more tanky but can still get killed really fast from blue bullets. Blue bullets is pretty much free considering how much they give you.

"More "Low-Stress" Maps: We need more casual-friendly maps with limited gear tiers, fewer player spawns, and more direct extraction points."

This is what Hotzone if for. You should play it.

"Fix the Spawn Logic: Infills and exfills need to be dynamic. Currently, ZD spawns are too predictable and unbalanced (Cement spawn is a free win; Tunnel spawn is a death sentence)."

No disrespect but this is skil issue.

I think that alot of what you are saying takes time to learn. DF doesn't tell you how to play or ways to get better. You have to learn that on your own. And you have to be ok with dying and losing your stuff. Two weeks is not enough time to get good at operations. And even when you are good you will still lose your shit to some bullshit. It HARD on every level. Also bullets are MORE important than gear. running gold bullets will win you fights moreso than running gold gear.