Every roll is separate and does not take into account any previous failures to increase your chances. It's like rolling a 20 sided die and rolling a 1 3 times in a row. Shit happens, and sometimes RNGesus doesn't love you. The only way to avoid that problem is to level above the % needed for what you want, or use skills as somebody mentioned.

Can't halp you with the AoEs. All I can say is learn to take the shortest way out as quickly as possible. And learn the patterns. Alot of AoEs come in patterns. So, if you know what the next one is you can already be moving out of it before it comes.