I started on xbox (which might have been the start of my difficulty, idk) I made a character, clicked play and joined a medium capacity server.

Right off the bat, the game expects you to know what to do. No tutorial except for the one on the main menu telling you about your inventory and combat. You spawn in the middle of no where, if you are lucky maybe in the middle of a bunch of shipping containers (even more lucky if you spawn during the day)

It took me 10 minutes before I learned how to light a glowstick, took me an hour to learn how to make bandages let alone how to craft.

I don't find the need for food or water to be a problem, but the lack of knowledge is the real difficulty. I've been playing for the past two days and I still don't know core mechanics like; how to gain health back, how to craft anything besides bandages, how to fix a broken bone, how to eat canned goods, how to start a fire, how to build a shelter, ect.

And whats the end goal? Right now I'm mindlessly wandering the world sometimes stumbling across a town, without a map I have no clue where I'm going or what I'm supposed to be doing.

TL:DR: DayZ doesn't teach new players the basics, making the game difficult (for me anyway)