You’re likely tired or it’s different mobs after all, groups are often mixed like level 8-11 hogs in one place. With better gear you can’t die as fast, and being a higher level you do more dmg and got more hp. And the main thing is how you deal with the initial charge attack (tiger; I use shield orb for that one) and AOE (hogs; just move out asap), both can oneshot you, avoiding this is much more important than the actual level - the hogs don’t deal any much dmg apart from their AOE so they are easy even if higher above.
And if you die often then I’d not go for reds but same level, leveling is quicker this way than to run back and forth and your dram increase from the shards of double gear instead of paying for repairs all the time.