So I mistakingly thought the grove with the tiefling-goblin war was the main quest, because that's what the game kept talking about.
And I didn't see any way to continue the game outside of doing it, especially since the way North to do Wyll's quest to get Kalrath was blocked off by a broken bridge. I eventually learned I could jump it, but I honestly didn't think platforming was an option given that the game didn't seem to have platforming elements.
I got stuck in the Goblin Camp on a really tough fight, as due to the game pointing me in that direction I went there without gearing up or leveling my guys, so I was only level four.
Honestly the fights were fine except for the one against Dror Hazlin, who kept killing my guys in one hit and refusing to take damage no matter what I did.
I tried attacking him from the rafters, but he was only half-way down on his health by the time he had my guys cornered and proceeded to kill them all by knocking them off the rafters.
I eventually turned down the difficulty, but found the fight unsatsifying. So I reloaded and eventually figured I could shove Dror Ragzlin down a bit and miss out on his worm.
I chose that, because the shame of using Explorer Difficult was just too great.
So, you might be wondering "What's the problem? I found a solution"
Well I was talking to the Steam Message boards about it and they were overly toxic, accusing me of a being a troll, telling me how easy the fight was, giving non-answers like "Use Explosive Barrles" (I don't have any) or "Hire some ogres!" (There are none around)
and when I explained why their solutions were unviable I was told I was a ragebaiter.
I just kept getting told how easy the fight was and how I'm a terrible person for asking for help.
Eventually the forum post was deleted due to how out of hand it got.
It left me in too sour a mood, because I figured, what if they're right? What if I'm not gamer enough to properly enjoy Baldur's Gate 3.
So now I ask on Lemmy, should I continue, or uninstall in shame?
I really do like the game, I don't agree with every mechanic and I dislike how limited resoruces are, but I love the world and the story and would really like to see it through to the end.
If you think I should continue, then please, I ask any advice I can get for how to optimize enjoyment. Thank you.
Back away from the goblin camp and explore the rest of the initial map.
From where you are there are multiple ways to get to the Underdark, where you can level up a little bit more before facing the goblin bosses, and maybe find more explosive barrels or other assists for that fight.
It's easier to face him once you are level 4, or maybe even 5, but that takes a lot of work.
I'm level 4, but I wound up reloading an earlier save, the ENTIRE CAMP aggrod on me, and I don't have the resources to fight EVERYONE.
Figured I could just kill the Goblin leaders and they'd disperse or something. I... don't see how to leave alive.
Yes the goblin camp can definitely wait
I've played through a few times.
What I usually do in the goblin camp is pick off stragglers at the edges, and this removes much of the danger of lots of enemies piling into one big fight. This works well outside and inside.
By the time I take on Dror Razglin, he has only the goblins left in the room with him.
You also spoke of dropping things from the rafters, and there is something else, a one of a kind thing, that is fun to drop from up there. I will elaborate if you don't mind the spoilers.
I also agree with those suggesting you start over and try new approaches.
It's true that it isn't as much of a ROLEplaying game as you would like, but there are lots of opportunities that open up with different builds, classes, races, and backgrounds.
If you're not in combat you should be able to teleport to any of the listed waypoints on the map screen, which will get you out of the goblin camp. You can teleport to waypoints even if you're inside the ruins.
That's what happened to me on my first playthrough hahaha. I ended up restarting from nothing and blowing through what I already knew. Same choices but made sure I was getting all the free equipment I could when I did it the second time through.
Let me mention something else here based on your experience with people telling you to use barrels. Barrelmancy is fun but it is absolutely not required to beat the game, even as a new player.
I wound up high-yielding it out of the goblin camp. I managed to cross a cliff or something before they got me, but my peeps were definitely falling on the way out haha. That was a wild one.
edit: after that the characters kept talking about how I killed the whole goblin camp and I definitely didn't hahaha. They are very much still there.