@palandus:
The game is not too hard: https://twitter.com/AncardiaUS - and there's obviously no save scumming here.
You could argue that the players who use the Ancardia server are veterans, but you'll notice that the gate gets closed several times every week, and many unsuccessful characters survive well into their 20s and 30s. If you're efficient it should take you not much more than an hour of ID grinding to get your character to lvl 10-12, relatively free of risk - i.e. you skip the level if you hear a vortex and you stay in the shallows until you're sufficiently buffed. I'll add that I've never had any trouble whatsoever finding spellbooks with a wizard in the ID.
Fix your intrinsics before exploring dangerous areas, and always make sure you have last-ditch options, like teleportation, invisibility, prayers, powerful offensive wands, boosting potions (especially speed), etc. With a strong race-class combo, you should be fairly confident of being able to complete the game with good preparation and risk management at least every third attempt once you've made it past the early game.
Cheers
Edit: Let me just add that you have very strong opinions about a game you've just started learning.