I guess it's the player skill requirement that does it. If you're a shit player, and playing melee, you'll get fucking slaughtered wherever you go.
If you grab a bow/crossbow, you can feel like you're being useful by playing the point&click side of this game. Everyone will still murder you, but now you can try to avoid it by hiding and staying away from them
Somehow (no idea how, it is point&click after all) playing ranged should require some skill from the player's end too.