Some guidance on how stats should be allocated is planned! But I do want to encourage and make it easy to experiment without worrying too much about that stuff.
I think the overarching problem here is that the early game has very little leeway in making any mistakes. Progress isn't meant to be slow (in fact, that's the opposite of what I set out to do). But you're right it will be slow unless you play things unreasonably well.
I actually intended for the first boss to be beaten with only three equipment. I see now that most people get too frustrated with this, and grind for more equipment slots (which is not a good experience, especially so early on!)
I am working on fixing these issues so the progression feels a lot more smooth. Thanks for your feedback!