I think it really depends on the scope of things. I do agree that the actual difficult moments are definitely more difficult. They do get more focused on and more time to breathe than in previous expansions. If you look at the story overall, however, and the bigger picture, I would say that, no, things have actually gotten lighter and more hopeful. Specific moments in EW like with Matsya or Meteion do get very dark, but things like the Final Days don't touch as wide a range as it feels they should. The characters we do lose are not main characters. Etc.