FYI, the gold gain wasn't buffed, it was nerfed. It went from 150 on x1 to 60 on x1.
Also, I agree that with things like a Templar stack, there's pretty much no way to win unless you have a clan stack on your side as well, but for the most part, it's down to how well you work with your team, if you lose 4 times in a row then your team are not walking along with the current of the river, you're all walking in different directions, some aren't even in the river anymore.
Learn to work with your team, I highly suggest playing a support role such as hoplite, really forces you to get down and work with your team rather than charging in and dying or not sticking and working with your team properly.
My main issue is that I like to run off on my own and face a large group of players at once, this often leads to me dying because obviously It's hard to take on 5v1's, but I've learned to stick with my team most of the time (Sometimes I run off still because I forget myself)