Did they increase the difficulty or is it Drombach?

[Gildongs]

I'm a returning player from early access as I noticed they've added more content like the latest DLC. I've cleared most of the region, which was a bit on the easy side in medium difficulty. I got bored from fighting similar monsters without any real challenges so quit and came back. I found I last saved just as my group had entered Drombach and was completing the region....but noticed the game difficulty has spiked alot? Or is it just the Drombach region? Most of my party members are level 10-11 with 21 members. Drombach is throwing at me mostly level 13 parties. More importantly, the enemies have more buff now and do a lot more direct dmg to health or have riposte, etc. I got creamed on an 'EASY' mission to wipe out a bandit camp and had to retreat, which has never happened once during entire playthrough.

I do know my team members are poorly equipped (only 2-3 char with matching level gold gear, mostly just blue gear at lvl 8-9) and I didn't min/max, but seems a bit odd. If I go to other regions, will difficulty notch down a bit? Maybe I can return to Drombach when my team is more capable. Or is it that the developers just raised difficulty across the board and I now I have to be more focused on min/maxing characters?

[zaphod]

It's a combination of both (the game is harder and Dornbach is also a harder region than the others).
A retreat followed by a return to the region is a good solution. I don't know if the enemies will have a lower lvl (it depends if you play region-lock. or adaptive) but the game will definitely be easier here. Loot all the mines and make equipment corresponding to the lvl (or use enemy drops if they have an adequate lvl).
... one useless piece of advice at the end. Try to think if you really need 21 people.