Yeah its a pain at the moment.
Yesterday i could relaxed work on my weapons in Padres behind El Sudorno switching between grenades, dagger (using Asp, Sidewinder, Adder and getting alot of rep), gun (using lead shot).
Today i had very hard times when being attacked by several grey leveled enemies and a red one. Using my dagger's throwing skills would mean end up in jail in 5min. Same for voodoo staff which should load faster or you dont stand a chance against a L33 grenadier and some L20.
So i ran out of tonics quite fast and had to go back to get new ones alot.
All this made it more a pain to level up than its fun.
I even found myself in jail when i came back after being 5min afk. Killed by the giant crabs at Tormenta beach. Fancy that!