I think you are very right, as when I first joined Mesecraft(Back when it was still called Sara’s Simple Survival Server) in 2019, I died more than 14 times in the first 10 minutes of playing. And for ores, well back then there was no market and Df caverns had also not been added yet, back then there was a different cave mod. The only way to get ores safely for me was to go to the moon using the Meseportal( Which got removed and replaced with moon portals). then about a two months later, the server restarted and instead died 5 times in the first 10 minutes but still trusted the Moon to give me ores, that server lasted a long time, not sure how long as I left in the the summer of 2020 because of family issues, but the day before Thanksgiving 2021, I returned and it was a new server with a new name, this time I died 2 times in the first 10 minutes, using the knowledge I had gained a year and a half ago, was able to get ores on my own (Meaning stealing from MisterE’s mine) and was able to only die 29 times in the entire time I was on that server, and when the server got restarted in January 2022 I suddenly relized how well I had become and how long it had taken me to reach that goal, as I didn’t die at all in the first ten minutes and in my total time of about 30 hours of playing this new server I have only died 3 times, doing stupid stuff. However, I got all my wealth in the game completely on my own with out using anybodys mine (Besides 3 gold ingots, but that was an invite to use the mine) So yes, I think Difficulty is a major thing on Mesecraft and I have seen dozens of new players leave because they died to much. And I can agree that Mesecraft has gotten harder over the years as well. And yes I really think books might help, as when I joined I had know Idea what to do, lol.
A blocky survival game.