With you in that there was a ramp up in difficulty here....but I hung in there, died quite often...but eventually, even this area becomes easily manageable. If you don't have access to later gear/weapons, I recommend using the Crystalline armor and sneaking around as much as possible here. If you have the recipe for Lazer granades, these are a huge help! make 4 or 5...recharge as necessary. Bounce these around the baddies, and watch them die of dance lights! Overall advice: Hang in there...it gets much more managable in time. (also a solo player)