A lot is going on in the post, so I'll try my best to answer everything, but if I miss something, please feel free to point it out. :)
I've heard about the difficult start. Some people seem to like it, and some want to start with crafting and prepare before getting into action. I think I can understand that and develop optional starting locations with different scenarios. I'll add that to the list of things to do.
Necromancer has a harder start because it lacks damaging abilities, and he has a unique ability of zombie summoning, which gives you potentially unlimited bodies to cover you. He can steamroll very well with a proper starting strategy. When I played the necro, I usually start by killing some animals and turning them into zombies, which are the only things in the first map where you are (but other creatures can enter the region as you probably experienced), they are not aggressive and easy to take down. The quicker animals can be taken down with stone-throwing instead of chasing to reduce the risk of stumbling on a harder enemy unprepared.
I can see how the traveler being able to enter the starting region might be too hard on inexperienced players. I could move merchants and travelers a bit further.
The arrow and bow situation, you don't need a workbench, but a woodcutter. You can get a stone axe with a couple of stones gathered nearby and be able to create arrows and primitive bows. The 20 arrows you have, if you use a basic attack that allows you to recover most of your arrows should suffice to take down enemies that would threaten you in the beginning. The poacher profession has access to arrow crafting from the start, and any other can salvage arrows to learn the recipe. I can understand this can be confusing to a new player, so if you have suggestions on how to make it more apparent, I would be happy to make some tweaks.
I agree the game could use more lore. I have a task on my long list to add something like that, mostly coming from people in the world. As I mentioned before, one of my goals is to have the world feel more alive, so this would be a step in the right direction. The improvements list is long, so I can't say when it will come, but I'm sure it will come at some point.
I welcome constructive criticism, so no need to worry about hurting my feelings. The game is not me, and I have the power to improve it so you can talk about your experiences in it freely. :)